154 lIMEIiWUM. 



A set taken by myself at Toorak, near Melbourne, Victoria, in 

 November 1873, are of a purplish- white ground colour, thickly 

 freckled, spotted, and blotched with deep reddish-brown, but 

 particularly towards the larger end, where a few obsolete spots of 

 lilac appear as if beneath the surface of the shell. Length (A) 

 0-86 X 0-63 inch ; (B) 0-84 x 0-63 inch j (0) 0-85 x 0-62 inch ; 

 (D) 0-84 X 0-61 inch. 



This species commences to breed at the latter end of September 

 and continues till the middle of January. I have frequently 

 found the young of this species just fledged at the end of December. 



JIab. Derby, N. W. Australia, Port Darwin and Port Essington, 

 Gulf of Carpentaria, Cape York, Rockingham Bay, Port Denison, 

 Wide Bay District, Dawson River, Richmond and Clarence 

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

 Australia, West and South- West Australia. (Eamsay.) 



Genus POMATOSTOMUS, Gahanis. 



POMATOSTOMUS TEMPORALIS, Vigors and HorsfieU. 

 Temporal Pomatostomus. 

 Gould, Hcmdbk. Bds. Aust., Vol. i., sp. 292, p. 479. 2X~. A 



"This species breeds chiefly in September, October, and November 

 making a large coarse nest of twigs slightly interwoven, the lower 

 part is much rounded, the upper rather elongated and drawn 

 out into a neck, the back twigs being brought forward so as 

 almost completely to hide the small opening, which has as it were 

 a thatch of twigs over its entrance. Very often too, the twigs 

 from the lower side project upwards, rendering it seemingly, almost 

 impossible for the bird to enter without disarranging them. It 

 is lined with a great quantity of grass or stringy bark, with which 

 the eggs are frequently covered when the birds leave their nests. 

 The top of some bushy tree or the end of some thickly branched 

 bough are the sites chosen for the nests, which when in the former 



