THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 145 



a larger species found in Western Australia, but practically less is 

 known of it than of the Big Scrub bird. Surely Australian ornith- 

 ologists have an interesting point to settle yet by bringing to 

 scientific light the female Atrichia. 



DESCRIPTION OF SOME NORTH AUSTRALIAN 

 BIRDS' EGGS. 



By D. Le Souef, C.M.Z.S. 



,Read before the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, 19th Nov., 1900.) 



Collyriocincla pallidirostris, Sharpe, Pale-headed Shrike- 

 Thrush. 

 These birds have a beautiful clear note, like the other members 

 of the same family, and are found in the north-eastern portion of 

 Australia, but their exact limit is difficult to define. They frequent 

 scrubby country or small open patches in the scrub, and the site 

 they choose for their nest is generally on a thick bunch of mistle- 

 toe or similar place. The structure is lightly built of stalks of 

 grass and vine tendrils, and lined with fine, dark-coloured tendrils, 

 and measures — internal depth, 2^ inches; external, 4 inches; 

 internal breadth, 3 inches; external, 53^ inches. The eggs are 

 white, with markings of varying shades of burnt sienna scattered 

 over the surface, but mostly over the larger end, especially on the 

 apex ; those under the surface are lilac. The markings vary in 

 size on different eggs — some being few and large, and others 

 small and numerous. The shell is slightly glossy, and they 

 measure — (a) 1.12 x .80 inch, (b) 1.6 x .78 inch, (c) 1.10 

 x .80 inch. The nest and eggs were found near Cooktown, 

 Queensland, on the 19th of November, 1899, three being 

 the full, clutch. This bird is lighter in colour than C. brunnea, 

 and is easily distinguishable from it. 



Sericornis frontalis, Vig. and Hors. (S. minimus, Gld.), 

 White-browed Scrub-Wren. 

 In the British Museum Catalogue this species is made 

 synonymous with S. frontalis. As is well known, birds found in 

 Northern Australia are generally smaller than those of the same 

 kind found in the more southern portions of the continent, and 

 this bird is probably a case in point. As will be noticed, its eggs 

 are considerably smaller than those of S. frontalis taken in 

 the Clarence River district of New South Wales ; then also & 

 frontalis (S. gularis, Legge), found in the Kent Group of 

 islands in Bass Straits is a large bird again, and its eggs corre- 

 spondingly so. The northern variety, like the others, frequents 

 scrubby country, and is generally to be seen on or near the 



