16 
RECORDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 
bird, M. superba , but is much smaller and is usually placed between 
the buttresses of trees, or amongst the thick undergrowth in which 
this bird loves to dwell. A nest of this species now before me in 
the Group Collection of the Australian Museum, taken from the 
scrubs of the Richmond River in June 1890, (together with the 
parent birds and the eggs,) is domed in form, the base and sides 
of which are constructed of thick twigs about six inches in length, 
and the nest proper which has a lateral entrance, entirely of 
mosses, the whole structure with the exception of the opening 
being covered and well concealed with dead leaves ; it measures 
exteriorly from back to front of the base fourteen inches and 
a-half, width nine inches and a-half, height at the centre of the 
nest, seven inches, from front of the base to entrance of the nest 
proper, seven inches ; the interior of the nest which is rounded 
in form measures four inches in diameter. The eggs of this species 
are two in number for a sitting and are pure white and vary from 
an elongate oval to a compressed ellipse in form, the texture of 
the shell being fine and slightly glossy. Two sets measure as 
follows : — Length (A) 1T3 x 0*83 inch ; (B) 1J2 x 0‘8 inch ; (C) 
1*12 x 0*87 inch ; (D) 1J6 x 0*86 inch. 
The coastal scrubs of New South Wales constitutes the principal 
habitat of this species. 
Cacomantis insperatus, Gould. Square-tailed Brush-Cuckoo. 
Gould , HandbJc . Bds. Aust ,, Yol. i., sp. 380, p. 619. 
Dr. George Hurst of Sydney, has taken at Newington on the 
Parramatta River, during many years past, eggs of a Cuckoo 
referable to this species, and which were usually obtained from 
the nests of Rhipidnra albiscapa; and I have also seen similar 
eggs from the collections of Mr. John Waterhouse and Mr. Leslie 
Oakes taken in the same locality. A few years ago Dr. Hurst 
found one of the same Cuckoo’s eggs at Newington in the nest of 
Malurns cyaneus , and to which he drew attention in the Proceed- 
ings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, Yol. iii., 2nd 
Series, p. 421, 1888 ; attributing it to this species. Early in 
December 1891, Mr. S. Moore was successful in obtaining from a 
tree on the banks of the Cook’s River a similar Cuckoo’s egg from 
the nest of Ptilotis chrysops , and on the 26th of the same month 
in company with Dr. Hurst, two more Cuckoo’s eggs were obtained 
at Eastwood, both from the nests of Rhipidnra albiscapa , and 
which also contained the usual complement of eggs laid by this 
bird for a sitting. All these Cuckoo’s eggs were obtained within 
a radius of ten miles of Sydney, and it is a matter of regret, that 
the opportunity was not taken of placing them in nests convenient 
for observation and hatching the young birds out, as was done by 
Dr. Ramsay and his brothers at Dobroyde, with the eggs of C. 
