EPHTHUNUEA. 143 



found on the 6th August 1861, was not finished until the 25th of 

 the same month ; on the 30 th we took three eggs from it. This 

 nest was suspended from the roof of a small cave in the gully of 

 George's River, near Macquarie Fields, and was composed of 

 rootlets and spiders' webs warmly lined with feathers and opossum- 

 fur, it contained three eggs of a pure and glossy-white, each egg 

 being eight and a-half lines in length by six and a-half lines in 

 breadth. Sometimes the eggs are nine but more often eight and 

 eight and a-half lines long. They are very similar in appearance 

 to those of Latham's Grass-Finch, Amadina lathami. The 

 breeding time lasts from August to December, during which time 

 two broods are raised." (Ramsay, Ibis, 1863, Vol. v., p. 445.) 



A set of three in the Australian Museum Collection, taken at 

 Middle Harbour, Sydney, measures as follows : — length (A) 0-8 x 

 0-6 inch ; (B) 079 x 0-62 inch ; (0) 078 x 0-6 inch. 



Hah. Wide Bay District, New South Wales. (Ramsii/ ) 



Genus EPHTHIANUEA, Gould. 



■i EPHTHIANURA TRICOLOR, Gould. 



Tri-coloured Ephthiamira. 

 Gould, Handhk. Bds. Aust., Vol. i., sp. 233, p. 380. WSl. /*-? 



" The nest is of fine grasses lined with fine rootlets and a few 

 hairs, it is cup-shaped, two inches in diameter inside and two 

 inches deep, and was placed in a wind-bent tuft of coarse grass, 

 the sides of the nest were hidden by the tops of grasses stuck in 

 perpendicularly round the rim, hanging over it in some places and 

 forming a more secure framework all round. The eggs were three 

 in number, of a pure white with rich clear red dots sprinkled over 

 the surface a little closer together at the thick end, but not forming 

 a zone there. Length (A) 0-G3 x 0-5 inch ; (B) 0-65 x 0-5 inch." 

 (Ramsay, P.L.S., N.S. W., Vol. vii., p. 48.) 



