PYEEHOL^SMUS. 145 



placed upon a strong framework of twigs, and neatly lined with 

 grasSj hair, &c. I have frequently found them among the dead 

 leafy tops of a fallen Eucalyptus which has been left by the wood- 

 cutters when clearing a piece of new ground. The eggs of this 

 bird are usually three, but sometimes four in number, from six to 

 seven lines long by five broad, beautifully white, some spotted, 

 and others irregularly marked with bright deep reddish-brown at 

 the larger end, where in some the spots form an indistinct zone. 

 In other specimens the spots are crowded at the top and very 

 sparingly sprinkled on the other parts of the egg. These 

 birds easily betray the position of their nest or young by their 

 anxiety and attempts to draw one from the spot by feigning 

 broken wings and by lying struggling upon the ground as if in a 

 fit. They have two broods (and perhaps more) in the year, after 

 which the young accompany the parent birds to feed, generally on 

 the salt marshy grounds near the water's edge. About Botany 

 and the Parramatta River, they are plentiful." {Ramsay, Ibis, 

 1863, Vol. v., p. 178.) 



I have found as many as twenty nests of this species in a day 

 among low ferns (Pteris aquilina) growing near the mouth of the 

 Yarra in Victoria. Measurements of two sets of eggs are as 

 follows :— length No. 1 (A) 0-65 x 0-52 inch ; (B) 067 x 0-5 inch ; 

 (C) 0-68 X 0-49 inch. No. 2 (D) 0-66 x 0-33 inch ; (E) 0-63 x 0-43 

 inch ; (F) 0-61 x 043 inch. ' Jl, 



Sab. Wide Bay District, Richmond and Clarence Rivers 

 Districts, New South Wales, Interior, Victoria and South 

 Australia, West and South- West Australia, (Ramsat/.) 



Genus PYRRHOLtEMUS, Gould. 



l-'f PYRRHOL^MUS BRUNNEUS, Gould. 



Eed-throat. 

 Gould, ffandbk. Bds. Aust., Vol. i., sp. 235, p. 384. 2^. ^^■ 



" This is a remarkable species and pecxdiar in the colour of its 

 eggs, the nest is very similar to that of a Malurus, it is composed 

 J 



