BY ALFRED J. NORTH, 
217 
breadth. The egg measures 1*36 inch in length by l - 02 inch in 
breadth, and without its underlying blotches and smears some- 
what resembles those of the Friar Bird ( Tropidorhynchus corni- 
culatus ). 
The Oriole's eggs from the above nest are of the usual variety 
found, being of a creamy-brown ground colour, minutely dotted 
and boldly blotched all over with different shades of umber-brown, 
intermingled with underlying markings of deep bluish-grey. 
Length, (A) 1-35 x 0-98 inch; (B) 1-4- x 1-03 inch; (C) 1-43 x 
1-01 inch. 
It will be observed that the egg of Flinder's Cuckoo is the same 
size as those of Mimeta viridis, although as a rule the eggs of 
Australian Cuckoos are larger than those of the birds in whose 
nests they are deposited. In the choice of a foster-parent for its 
young Eudynamis cyanocephala has, however, exercised great 
discrimination in selecting a species that, like itself, depends 
entirely on fruits and berries for its subsistence during the spring 
and summer months. 
Megalurus galactotes, Temminck. 
Although the range of the Tawny Grass-bird extends over the 
greater portion of Northern and Eastern Queensland, and Northern 
New South Wales, it is of so shy and retiring disposition that it 
is a species seldom met with, and only on one occasion have I 
heard of its nest and eggs being found. The late Mr. George 
Barnard, of Coomooboolaroo, Queensland, shortly before his 
decease informed me that while collecting specimens of Micro- 
lepidoptera on his station on the 26th of October, 1893, he flushed 
one of these birds from the rush-bordered bank of a dry creek, 
and, after a diligent search, succeeded in finding its nest at the 
bottom of a tuft of long rushes. The nest was a deep cup-shaped 
structure, slightly domed or narrowed at the top, and was out- 
wardly composed of dried swamp grasses, lined inside with 
feathers, and contained three fresh eggs, two of which he "unfortu- 
nately broke. The remaining egg has recently been forwarded 
to me for examination by Mr. Charles Barnard. It is precisely 
