184 ORIOLIDa!. 



wide inside, and about three inches and three-quarters deep. It 

 is cup-shaped, composed of shreds of bark of the Stringy-bark tree 

 (Eucalyptus ohliqua) strongly interwoven ; the inside is made 

 thick and more compact by addition of the white paper-like bark 

 of the Ti-tree, or, in its absence, any other material adapted for the 

 purpose ; lastly, it is lined with the narrow leaves of the native 

 oak, or with grass and hair. The nest is usually suspended between 

 a fork at the very end of a horizontal bough of Eucalyptus, 

 Melaleuca, Syncarjjia, ifec, and often in very exposed situations. 

 The eggs are two or three in number, usually three. In two 

 instances only did we find four — the first of these being in 1860, 

 and the second in 1861. In length the eggs%re from one inch 

 two lines to one inch four lines ; in breadth from nine lines to 

 one inch. The ground colour varies from a rich cream to a dull 

 white or very light brown, minutely dotted and blotched with 

 umber and blackish-brown, with faint lilac spots which appear 

 beneath the surface, all over in some ; but generally the spots are 

 more numerous at the larger end, where they form a:^ indistinct 

 band.'' (Bamsay, Ibis, 1863, Vol. v., p. 179.) 



A set taken at Dobroyde in 1860, measures as follows : — length 

 (A) 1-35 X 0-98 inch; (B) 1-35 x 0-93 inch ; (0) 1-35 x 0-95 inch. 



Sab. Wide Bay District, Richmond and Clarence Rivers 

 Districts, New South Wales, Interior, Victoria and South 

 Australia. (Ramsay.) 



3 MIMETA AFFINIS, Gould. 



Allied Oriole. 

 Gould, HanJhk. Bds. Ausf., Vol. i., sp. 284, p. 465. jSZT y^ 



The nest of this species is similar to that of M. viridis, and 

 is built in like situations. The eggs, three for a sitting, are 

 of a very light creamy-buff' with dark olive-brown spots, and 

 a few of a pale lilac or slaty titit, appearing as if beneath the 

 shell ; the spots are sprinkled all over the surface rather widely 

 apart. Length (A) 1-3 x 0'9 inch ; (B) 1-22 x 0-88 inch. They 



