LALAGE. 77 



of grasses and the stalks of various herbs slightly interwoven and 

 fastened together by spiders webs, &c., and is lined with finer grasses 

 &c.; inside diameter four inches, the depth 1-4, the height of the 

 rim above the branch on which it is placed is one inch. The eggs 

 are three in number, oblong in form, the shell of a delicate thin 

 texture, the ground colour pale asparagus green with a dull 

 brownish patch of confluent markings at the thicker end, or with 

 freckles of the same tint thinly distributed over the surface, and 

 a few black irregular markings at the thick end. Length (A) 

 1-3 X 0-87 ; (B) 1-35 X 0-95; (C) 1'33 x 0-92 ; (D)l-3x0'87; 

 (E) 1-35 X 0-88." {Ramswy, P.L.S., N.S.W., Yol. vii., p. 47.) 



Hob. Wide Bay District, New South Wales, Interior, Victoria 

 and South Australia, W. and S.W. Australi.n,. {Rammy.) 



Genus LALAGE, Boie. 



LALAGE LEUCOMEL^NA, Vigors and Horsfield. 

 Black and White Lalage. 

 Gould, Sandhh. Bds. Aust., Vol. i., sp. Ill, p. 203. 



Respecting the nidification of this species, Mr. E,. D. Fitzgerald 

 writes as follows : — 



" A nest of this species, taken at Ballina near the mouth of the 

 Richmond River, on November 4th, 1887, is composed of the 

 wiry and pliant stems of herbs and grasses entwined and matted 

 together with cobweb, and a few pieces of lichen felted together, 

 making the outside resemble the branch, in .i fork of which it is 

 placed ; the nest is about the size of that of L. tricolor, being 

 comparatively small for the size of the bird ; the one at present 

 under consideration, was placed between a fork in a small branch 

 of a Ti-tree (Melaleuca sp.); it is a small and shallow structure, 

 being only 2-1 inches outside diameter by 1'35 inches inside, and [ 

 without any special lining. It contained but one egg, which I 

 believe is all that is laid for a sitting, for on shooting and dissecting 

 the female no other egg was found in any degree of maturity. 



