MELANODBYAS. 105 



Genus MELANODEYAS, Gould. 



3 MELANODRYAS BICOLOR, Vigors and EorsfieU. 

 (M. cucuUaia, Latham.) 

 Hooded Robin. 

 Gould, Handhk. Bds. Aust., Vol. i., sp. 168, p. 283. 



The nest of this species is usually placed on the thick branch 

 or fork of a tree close to the ground; one before me ^ taken by 

 Mr. K. H. Bennett at Mossgiel, September 1886, is around, open, 

 shallow structure, composed of strips of bark, held together by 

 cobwebs, and lined inside with fine grasses and rootlets, measuring 

 two inches and a-quarter across, by five-eighths of an inch in depth, 

 inside measurement. The eggs three in number for a sitting, are 

 olive-green with a very faint tint of reddish-brown on the larger 

 end. Length (A) 0-83 x 0-65 inch ; (B) 0-85 x 0-65 inch ; (C) 

 0"84 X 0'65 inch. The eggs of this species vary in tint ; a set I 

 have in my collection taken in the Wimmera District, Victoria, 

 being of a bright apple green. 



The breeding season commences in August and lasts through 

 the four following months. 



Hab. Wide Bay District, Dawson River, Richmond and Clarence 

 River Districts, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, 

 West and South- West Australia. {Ramsay.) 



^ MELANODRYAS PICATA, Gould. 



Pied Eobin. 



Gould, Handhk. Birds Aust, Vol. i., sp. 169, p. 285. 



This bird has a wide range over the continent of Australia, 

 specimens having been procured together with the nest and eggs 

 by Mr. James Ramsay, in October 1876, near Bourke, New South 

 Wales ; and last year both Mr. Cairn and the late Mr. T. H. 

 Boyer-Bower obtained several specimens about eighty miles inland 

 from Derby, North-western Australia. 



