Mr. E. P. Ramsay on Birds breeding near Sydney. 305 



us. In 1863 we were not favoured (so far as I am aware) by a 

 single specimen, nor have I observed any at present during this 

 season (1864), 



When they have arrived, their presence is usually indicated 

 by their pleasing liquid notes, among the tops of the mahogany 

 and other trees which are in full bloom during these months. 

 They are often accompanied by various species of Trichoglossus, 

 chiefly T. concinnus and the more beautiful T. swainsoni, with 

 occasionally a few of T. chlorolepidotus. The " Blood-bird," 

 under which name Myzomela sanguinolenta is generally known 

 here, breeds during the months of October, November, and De- 

 cember, making a neat but somewhat scanty nest of stringy-bark, 

 seldom with any other lining. It is suspended between a fork 

 or twigs at the end of some bough in the bush, or among the 

 upright and topmost branches of the tea-tree. 



The nest is perhaps smaller than that of any other Australian 

 bird, being in some instances scarcely one inch and a half in diame- 

 ter by one inch in depth. The eggs are two, seldom three, in 

 number, of a delicate white strongly marked with reddish- and 

 yellowish-brown spots, more numerous at the larger end. They 

 are from 6 to 7 lines in lengthy and from 5 to 6 lines in breadth. 



Parra gallinacea (Gould, Birds of Australia, vol. vi. p. 75) . 



There has been so much left unsaid with respect to the nidifi- 

 cation of the birds in the immediate neighbourhood of Sydney, 

 that I feel I may be going out of my way in describing the eggs 

 of the species from other parts of the country ; yet the novelty 

 and the beauty of these at present under consideration will, I 

 hope, in some manner atone for my error*. For the first eggs 

 of this beautiful Parra which I possessed I was indebted to 

 Mr. Edward Hill, of Woolarla, near Sydney, who very kindly 

 presented me with a pair which he stated were procured by a 

 friend of his, living a few miles north of Rockhampton. Since 



* [The eggs of Parra gallinacea have recently been described by Mr. 

 Gould (P. Z. S., 1864, p. 661) ft-om two examples which may very possibly 

 have been out of the same nest as the first mentioned by Mr. Ramsay. 

 —Ed.] 



N. S. VOL. I. Y 



