7i CAMPOPHAGID^. 



Family CAMPOPHAGIDiE. 



Genus GRAUCALUS, Cmier. 



-<r-3 GRAUCALUS MELANOPS, Latham. 



Black-faced G-raucalus. 

 Gould, Handhk. Bds. Ausf., Vol. i., sp. 103, p. 192. -Zr. ^. 



A nest of this species now before me, taken from the Collection 

 in the Australian Museum, is composed entirely of the dried leaves 

 of the Casuarina securely held together on the outside by cobwebs; 

 it is neatly fitted into the angle of a forked horizontal branch, 

 the rim of the nest being but slightly above the level of the top of 

 the branch ; it is a very flat structure and measures externally 

 four and a-half inches across by one and a-quarter inches in depth, 

 and has but the slightest depression in the centre viz., seven- 

 sixteenths of an inch, just sufficient to keep the eggs from rolling 

 out , this nest was taken from a Stringy-bark {Eucalyptus). 

 Eggs two to three in number for a sitting, varying in tint from 

 olive-brown to apple-green. 



A set taken by Dr. Ramsay at Dobroyde, November 6th, 1 860, 

 are two in number, of a light olive ground colour thickly blotched 

 and spotted with dark umber, chestnut-brown, and deep reddish- 

 lilac the latter colour appearing as if beneath the surface of the 

 shell. Length (A) 1-23 x 0-9 inch ; (B) 1-3 x 0-87 inch. 



A set of three taken at Hastings, Western Port, Victoria, on 

 October 23rd, 1881, are of a beautiful apple-green ground colour, 

 uniformly spotted and blotched with light chestnut, yellowish- 

 brown, and deep umber-brown, the latter colour in one specimen 

 partaking the form of large clouded blotches. Length (A) 1*25 

 X 0-9 inch; (B) 1-3 x 0-91 inch ; (0) 1-26 x 0-87 inch. 



They begin to breed in September and continue during the 

 three following months. 



Hah. Derby, N.W. Australia, Port Darwin and Port Essington, 

 Gulf of Carpentaria, Cape York, Rockingham Bay, Port Denison, 

 Wide Bay District, Dawson River, Richmond and Clarence 



