THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 163 



OOLOGY OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



By a. J. Campbell, 



(Read he/ore the Field Naturalists' Club oj Victoria, \\th 

 February, 18 8"^.) 



138. Rhipidura setosa fisuraj — (Northern Fantail). Lo- 

 cality — North Australia and New Guinea. Fgg — Ground colour 

 yellowish or light stony-white, clouded about the upper half 

 with yellowish-brown and grey markings, the latter colour 

 appearing as if under the shell's surface. Markings somewhat 

 bold, but in some examples fainter, and inclined to form a zone 

 about the upper quarter. Dimensions in lines — (i) 9^x6^; 

 (2)8|x6i 



While in the Cardwell district. Northern Queensland, about 

 he beginning of September, I noticed Northern Fantails, 

 which appeared to be migrating from northwards. 



144. Myiagra plumbea — (Leaden-coloured Flycatcher). 

 Locality — Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and New 

 Guinea. Egg — Soft whitish ground or surface colour, with a 

 band of umber markings, intermingled with obscure grey round 

 the upper quarter. Isolated spots at intervals also appear over 

 other parts of the shell. Dimensions in lines, of a clutch — 

 (0 9|x6|; (2) 9i-x7; (3) 9ix6|-. 



The Leaden-coloured Flycatcher's eggs can hardly be termed 

 new, because they are pretty well known to oologists, although 

 I believe not previously described. Gould mentions the nest 

 only. The nest and eggs now exhibited, together with the 

 birds, were taken by field naturalists while encamped on the 

 Glengarry River, Gippsland, Christmas-tide, 1885. The eggs 

 are not so rounded as is usual in this genus. The nest is 

 a model in bird-architecture. It was placed on an overhanging 

 Melaleuca or ti-tree branch, constructed of bark and lined with 

 grass. The rim and external portions are beautifully decorated 

 with lichens, wonderfully adhered by aid of cobwebs. Dimen- 

 sions, 2 inches across the mouth by i^ inch deep. 



The Leaden-coloured or Plumbeous Flycatcher migrates very 

 regularly to Victoria, arriving about the end of September. 



Migration is a subject which is much occupying naturalists 

 in Europe and America. We in the Antipodes would do well 

 to keep abreast of the times. I may inform members that they 

 are " sleeping upon their rights," for already a foreign 

 society is poaching upon their ground, some of our lighthouse- 

 keepers in Victoria having been furnished with printed 

 schedules wherein to record movements of birds observed in 

 their localities. 



