OACOMANTIS. 



243 



Victoria, who procured them on the outskirts of the Mallee 

 country in the Wimmera district, in September 1882. The nest 

 was built in the upright fork of a Casuarina about fifteen feet 

 from the ground, and is similar in every respect to that of S. 

 chrysoptera; hence its description would be merely a repetition of 

 that of the nest of the latter species. Eggs three in number for a 

 sitting, the ground colour darker, and the blotches heavier, than 

 in S. chrysoptera, being a deep bluish-white, with long slaty-black 

 markings, while appearing underneath the surface of the shell are 

 large superimposed blotches of dark lilac, which in some instances 

 are confluent ; the markings on the under surfaee are much larger 

 and more numerous than on the outer surface of the shell. Length 

 (A) 0-66 X 0'51 inch ; (B) 0-66 x 0-53 inch ; (C) 0-67 x 0-54 inch." 

 (North, P.L.S., N.S. W., Vol. ii., 2nd Series, p. 409.) 



Hah. New South Wales, Interior, Victoria and South Australia, 

 West and South- West Australia. (Ramsay.) 



Family CULCULIDiE. 



Genus OACOMANTIS, Muller. 



OACOMANTIS PALLIDUS, Latham. 



(Cuculus inornatus. Vigors and Horsfield.) 

 PaJlid Cuckoo. 

 Gould, Hamdhk. Bds. Aust, Vol. i., sp. 378, p. 615. 



" In the neighbourhood of Sydney this species usually deposits 

 its egg in the nests of Ptilotis auricomis, and occasionally in 

 those of Ptilotis chrysofs, but rarely in those of Melithreptus 

 lunulatus; in other districts, doubtless, in any nests suitable for 

 the purpose. I have frequently observed that whenever the eggs 

 of Cuckoos have been deposited in open nests, there is manifested 

 a decided preference for those of birds which lay eggs similar to 

 their own. The eggs of the Unadorned Cuckoo (C. inornatus)* 



* = G. fallidus, Latham. 



