SPHECOTHEEES. 185 



breed from the beginning of September to the end of December. 

 (Ramscvy, P.L.S., F.S. W., Vol. vi., p. 576.) 



M^ab. Derby, N. W. Australia, Port Darwin and Port Essington, 

 Gulf of Carpentaria, Cape York, Rockingham Bay, Dawson River. 

 ( Ramsay.) 



Genus SPHECOTHEEES, Vidllot. 



3 SPHECOTHERES MAXILLA RIS, Latham. 



Gould, HoMdhk. Ms. Aust., Vol. i., sp. 286, p. 467. ZZC //. 



Mr. R. D. Fitzgerald writes as follows regarding the nidification 

 of this bird : — " This remarkable species, which appears to be 

 somewhat gregarious in its habits, I found breeding during the 

 latter part of October and the beginning of November in the 

 brushes of the Richmond River, where the birds are plentiful. 

 The nests, of which several were discovered in adjoining trees, 

 are rather slight and shallow, constructed of small thin twigs 

 interwoven loosely, not unlikealarge nest of PacAycep/jaZag'MWMj'aZis, 

 and are usually placed at the extremity of a horizontal branch 

 about twenty feet from the ground ; the tree most favoured being 

 the Flindersia. Three nests obtained on the 4th of November 

 1886, contained each three fresh eggs, which appears to be the 

 regular number for a sitting, all quite fresh. An average-sized 

 pair of these eggs measure as follows: — length (A) l'25x0'88 

 inch ; (B) 1-25 x 0-9 inch. The ground colour varies from olive- 

 brown to dull apple-green ; the spots sometimes confluent and 

 forming small irregular blotches, are of a reddish-brown, in some 

 brighter and redder, in others very like those on the eggs of 

 Cracticus destructor; the markings are distributed over the whole 

 surface, but are usually closer together on the thicker end, where 

 in some they form an irregular zone." (Fitzgerald, P.L.S., N.S. 

 W., Vol. ii., Second Series, p. 970.) 



