36 
Mountains. The specimen is an adult male in full plumage. 
Several years ago I searched for this bird in the Richmond and 
Clarence Rivers scrubs, but found it not, although P, gouldii, 
Cray, was by no means rare. There is no difference in the size 
of the New South Wales bird and those from Port Denison, the 
wings and tail being in both cases respectively from 2*7 to 2*8. 
Pycnoptilus floccosus, Gould, is this season (1889) particularly 
plentiful in the valleys of the Blue Mountains ; I noticed also 
Hocks of Estrelda bella and E. bichenovii , which had been liberated 
some six years ago and have taken kindly to their new home. 
NOTES on the NIDIFICATION of MERULA VINITINCTA , 
GOULD, and OCYDROMUS SYLVESTRIS , SCLATER, 
FROM LORD HOWE ISLAND. 
By A. J. North. 
Mr. J. R. Icely, the Visiting Magistrate of Lord Howe Island, 
has lately returned to Sydney, bringing with him a number of 
specimens acquired on behalf of the Trustees of the Australian 
Museum, among which are the nest and eggs of Merida vinitincta , 
and the eggs of Ocydromus sylvestris , and from which the follow- 
ing descriptions are taken : — 
Merula vinitincta, Gould* Vinous-tinted Blackbird. 
“ Doctor Bird.” Inhabitants of Lord Howe Island. 
A nest of this species, taken during the month of October, 
1889, is elliptical in form, with a small cup-shaped depression 
in the top, and is composed throughout of strips of palm leaves 
and fibre of one of the species of Kentia peculiar to the Island, 
together with skeletons of leaves, but without any special 
lining, it measures exteriorly seven inches in diameter by 
live inches in depth ; internally, three inches in depth by two 
and a half inches across. Mr. Icely states that the nest was 
built in the branches of a shrub not far from the ground. 
The eggs are two in number for a sitting, inclining to elongated 
ovals in form, slightly pointed at one end, of a pale greenish-grey 
ground colour, with freckles, dots, and longitudinal markings of 
reddish-brown dispersed over the entire surface of the shell, in 
some places a few nearly obsolete blotches of purplish-grey 
appear. Length (A) 1*15 x 0*77 inch; (B) 1*12 x 0*77 inch.* 
Plate i., fig. 5. 
