150 TIMBLnN^. 



Rob. Wide Bay District, Dawson River, Richmond and 

 Clarence Rivers Districts, New South Wales, Victoria and South 

 Australia. {Eamsay.) 



Genus XEEOPHILA, Gould. 



^- XEROPHILA LEUCOPSIS, Gould. 



WMte-faoed XeropMLa. 

 Gould, Handbk. Bds. Aust., Vol. i., sp. 234, p. 382. :Z2C: y^. 



" The eggs of this species have been unfortunately described as 

 being white by Mr. Gould ; that many of our Australian birds 

 lay eggs other than of the normal colour must be well known to 

 all Australian Oologists, who are not unf requently a little puzzled 

 at getting eggs of the same species totally different from one 

 another, nevertheless I believe the eggs described by Mr. Gould as 

 those of this species really belong to Geobasileus chrysorrhoea. 

 The eggs of the present species as shown by numerous authentic 

 examples taken by Mr. James Ramsay and Mr. K. H. Bennett, 

 are of a dull white thickly spotted and freckled all over with 

 reddish-brown, dull chocolate-brown, or dark wood-brown; in some 

 specimens the whole of the ground colour is obscured by reddish- 

 brown freckles, others have a zone of confluent spots of dark 

 blackish-brown on the larger end and only a few dots or freckles 

 on the remaining portion ; average length 0-7 x 0-53 inch. The 

 nests vary in structure according to the situation chosen, some 

 being neat and compact placed among the twigs of some low shrub, 

 others which are more commonly placed in the hollow branches of 

 trees or holes in the sides of dead trees or posts are rather scanty ; 

 all are composed of grasses and lined with feathers, wool, hair, &o." 

 {Ramsay, P.L.S., N.S. W.. Vol. vii., p. 407.) 



Eggs five in number for a sitting. A set taken by Mr. James 

 Ramsay at Tyndarie, measures as follows : — length (A) 0-72 x 0-54 

 inch ; (B) 0-74 X 0-55 inch ; (0) 071 x 0-54 inch ; (D) 0-71 x 0-54 

 inch ; (E) 0-73 x 0-55 inch. 



Rab. New South Wales, Interior, Victoria and South 

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



