140 TIMELnN^. 



Genus GEOBASILEUS, Cabanis. 



k GEOBASILEUS REGULOIDES, Vigors and Horsfield. 



BufE-niraped Geobasileus. 



Gould, Handbk. Bds. Aust., Vol. i., sp. 230, p. 376. 



" Little or no preference seems to be shown in the selection of a 

 site for the nest of this bird. It is a dome-shaped structure, having 

 a small entrance in the side and composed of grasses and stringy 

 bark &c., lined with feathers, cotton-tree down, or opossum-fur. It 

 is placed in a tuft of grass, or low bushy shrub, but j ust as often among 

 the loose pieces of bark which having accumulated in the forks of" 

 the Eucalypti hide all except the entrance of the nest. A hole 

 morticed in the side of a post and the fork of a Ti-tree where 

 rubbish has accumulated alike serve its purpose, the shape 

 depending upon the position chosen. The nests resemble those 

 of the Malurus cyaneus both in size and shape ; they are however, 

 much more bulky, thicker, and have a great quantity of lining, 

 which renders them much warmer and more comfortable. The eggs 

 which may be taken from August to December, are four in number 

 0-6 to 0-7 inch in length by 0-4 to 0-5 inch broad, having a delicate 

 white ground colour, spotted, freckled, or dashed with markings 

 of reddish-brown of various tints and a few of purplish-lilac-brown, 

 in most forming a zone at the larger end ; the eggs of the young 

 breeding for the first or second time are white without any 

 markings. This species has three broods during the season, and 

 if the nest be taken will frequently build another in the same 

 place." (Ramsay, P.Z.S., 1866, p. 575.) 



Three eggs of this bird in the Australian Museum Collection 

 give the following measurements : — length (A) 0-67 x 0-47 inch ; 

 (B) 0-65 X 0-46 inch ; (C) 0-62 x 045 inch. 



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

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

 Australia, {Bamsay.) 



