feathers. Now that the eggs are known* it would be of great interest if some zoologist could explain the anomaly 

 in their characters ; for experience teaches us that in every genus of birds the true typical egg of each species is 

 not without characteristic resemblance. The foster parents of the Bronze Cuckoos are generally the Malitri and 

 Acanthizce, but I have taken them from the nest of Petroica multicolor (Scarlet-Breasted Robin), and they 

 have also been taken from Petroica Goodenovu (Red Capped Robin) and Geryyone. Rarely two species of 

 Cuckoos deposit eggs in the same nest, but the following is a curious fact : I found the nest of Acanthiza 

 (Geobasileus) chrysorrhcea containing three eggs, besides an egg each of the two Bronze Cuckoos. We are aware 

 that young Cuckoos have the reputation of ousting their foster brothers and sisters, but if these two lively 

 youngsters had been reared in the same nest, we are constrained to imagine that ' when Greek met Greek ' then 

 would come the tug-of-war. With reference to parasitic Cuckoos ousting the foster chickens, I do not think this 

 applies in all cases, because if we consider the young Pallid and Fantailed Cuckoos, their rapid growth in size as 

 compared with the foster chick, the latter would soon be crushed and starved out of existence ; moreover, the nest 

 could not contain them all. In any case, there appears an all-wise provision of their great Creator for the 

 maintenance of their (the Cuckoo) species, for it may be conceived that it occupies the whole time of a pair of 

 tiny foster parents to satiate the rapacious maw of their large foster chick without being encumbered with a 

 brood of their own offspring." 



All the upper surfaces of a bright bronze green ; two centre tail feathers, bronze, with olive brown tips ; 

 three next rufous brown for three-parts of their length, then olive brown, tipped with white ; outside feathers, 

 vandyked on outer web with white ; under tail surfaces, regularly barred with brown and white ; throat, breast, 

 and abdomen, crossed by broad bars of bronze, increasing in width as they go towards the flanks. 



Habitats : Derby (N.W.A.), Port Denison, Wide Bay District, Richmond and Clarence River Districts 

 (New South Wales), Interior, Victoria and South Australia, Tasmania. (Ramsay.) 



GENUS CHALCITES. 



THIS genus is represented by only one species in Australia, which so closely resembles the Chrysococcyx that, 

 in the language of simile, the one may be taken as the heavy shadow of the other. The Chalcites is a 

 heavier, more robust bird, and differs in colouring, but that is all. 



CHALCITES OSCULANS. Would) 



BLACK-EARED CUCKOO. Genus: Chalcites. 



ALTHOUGH this Cuckoo seems to prefer the inland country to the coast, and is not known to extend its 

 migrations over seas, it follows the same habits as the Chrysococcyx in preferring thick shrubby trees 

 moderately high for its favourite resort. Its food consists of the insects that haunt the leaves and branches, 

 in search of which it hops about with a quiet stealthiness. 



Gilbert, who met with this bird in Western Australia, says that it is very shy, and only to be met with 

 inland. It utters a feeble, lengthened, and plaintive note at long intervals. It flies slowly and heavily, and 

 only for short distances. The stomach is thin and capacious, and slightly lined with caterpillar's hairs. 



* Dr. Ramsay .-ays that the eggs were known and recorded many years before Mr. Campbell's discovery. 



