EHlPIDUEA. 85 



bark of which it is composed. The interior of the nest is lined 

 entirely with fine fibrous roots, and the rim of the nest is very thin; 

 external diameter one and seven-eighths of an inch, depth one 

 and three-quarters of an inch, length of stem below the nest, 

 two inches, thickness near the end one quarter of an inch; internal 

 diameter one and seven-eighths of an inch, depth one and one- 

 eighth of an inch. 



The nest of this bird is placed in a variety of situations, some 

 times on the thin branch of a Melaleuca within a few feet of the 

 ground, but not unfrequently on one of the topmost branches of 

 an Acacia or tall gum-sapling twenty feet from the ground. Eggs 

 two or three in number for a sitting, of a dull, and in some instances 

 creamy-white ground colour, thickly spotted with brown markings, 

 intermingled with a few obsolete spots of bluish-grey towards the 

 larger end, where they become confluent and form a well defined 

 zone. Dimensions of a set taken at Macquarie Fields, length 



(A) 0-62 X 0-5 inch ; (B) 0-61 x 0-48 inch ; (C) 0-6 x 0-5 inch. 



A set taken at the mouth of the Yarra, near Melbourne, are of 

 a dull white, with the brown markings more clouded and evenly 

 dispersed over the whole surface ; length (A) 0-66 x 0"4:8 inch ; 



(B) 0-64 X 0-5 inch ; (0) 0-61 x 0-48 inch. 



This species commences to breed in October and continues the 

 two following months. 



Rab. Rockingham Bay, Port Denison, Wide Bay District, 

 Richmond and Clarence Rivers Districts, New South Wales, 

 Interior, Victoria, and South Australia. {Ramsay.) 



RHIPIDURA DIEMENENSIS, Shm-pe. 



Taemanian Fantail. 



Sha/rpe, Brit. Mus. Gat. Bds., Vol. iv., p. 311. 



"Two eggs taken near Hobart, in October, 1885, are of a dull 

 white colour, thickly freckled all over with creamy-brown markings 



