SPHENURA. 125 



but remained close by in a small Swamp-oak (Gaswrina, sp.), I 

 had a good opportunity of satisfying myself that it was a verita.ble 

 Emu Wren. The eggs were of course quite warm, and within a 

 few days of being hatched : this may account for the bird being 

 so unwilling to leave the spot ; for when I returned about five 

 minutes afterwards, the female was perched upon the same tuft of 

 grass, and within a few inches from where I had taken the nest. 

 The whole nest is of an oval form (but that part which one might 

 term the true nest is perfectly round), placed upon its side ; the 

 mouth very large, taking up the whole of the upper part of the 

 front. It is very shallow — so much so that if tilted slightly, the 

 eggs would roll out, they being almost upon a level with its edge. 

 It is outwardly composed of grass and the young dry shoots of the 

 reeds which are so common in all the swamps near the Hunter 

 River, lined with fine grass, roots, and finally a very fine green 

 moss. It is very loosely put together, and requires to be moved 

 very gently to prevent it from falling to pieces. The eggs were 

 three in number, six and a-half lines long by four and a-half broad, 

 sprinkled all over with minute dots of a light reddish-brown 

 (brighter in tint than those of the Malurug cyaneus), but more 

 numerously at the larger end, where they are blotched with the 

 same colour. One of the three had no blotches, but was only 

 minutely freckled all over. The ground colour is a delicate white 

 with a blush of pink before the egg is blown." (Ramsay, Ibis, 

 1863, Vol. v., p. 177.) 



Hab. Wide Bay District, Richmond and Clarence Rivers 

 Districts, I^ew South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, 

 Tasmania, West and South- West Australia. {Bamsay.) 



Genus SPHENURA, Lichtenstein. 



3 SPHENURA BRACHYPTERA, Latham. 



Gould, Handbh. Bds. Aust, Vol. i , sp. 202, p. 342. J^ /<< 



" The nest is an oval dome shaped structure, composed of grasses 

 and debris ; it is placed at the foot of some bushy, shrub and 



