THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Adult female. General colour of the upper-surface dusky earth-brown including the top 
of the head, sides of face, sides of neck, liind-neck, back, scapulars, rump and upper 
tail-coverts ; wings and tail darker than the back with pale margins to the feathers ; 
lores and a spot below and behind the e\ r e coffee-brown ; chin and throat buffy- 
wbite with dark centras to most of the feathers, the buff increasing on the upper 
breast; abdomen, sides of body, thighs, vent and under tail-coverts whitish; 
axillaries and under wing-coverts dusky-brown; under-surface of flight-quills 
hair-brown, slightly paler on the margins ; lower aspect of tail similar. Eyes 
hazel, bill and legs black. Total length 105 mm. ; culmen 13, wing 64, tail 39, 
tarsus 14. Figured. Collected at Point Clcates, Mid-west Australia, on the 
6th of June, 1901. 
Immature. General colour of the upper-surface dark brown with a smoky tinge, with pale 
margins to many of the feathers—particularly on those of the wings and tail; 
lores, sides of face, sides of neck, chin, and throat smoke-brown with whitish 
margins to some of the feathers which are more pronounced on the breast; abdomen 
and under tail-coverts white; under wing-coverts and quill-lining pale hair- 
brown with pale margins to the latter ; lower aspect of tail similar to its upper- 
surface. E^yes deep brown, feet and legs black, bill black, gape yellow. Collected 
in East Murchison, Mid-west Australia, on the 8th of September, 1909. 
Female , immature. General colour of the upper-parts hair-brown with pale margins to 
the feathers, including the back, wings, and tail; crown of head and sides of face 
inclining to rust-brown; chin and throat buffy-white with dark bases to the feathers, 
becoming darker on the fore-neck; breast, abdomen, sides of body, and under- 
toil-coverts buffy-white; under wing-coverts dusky-brown; under-surface of 
flight-quills pale hair-brown with paler margins ; lower aspect of tail also pale hair- 
brown. Collected at Derby, North-west Australia, on the 25th of March, 1900. 
Nestling. General colour of the upper-surface blackisli-brown with pale edgings to man\ 
of the feathers, including the top of the head, back, wings, and tail; chin, throat, 
and breast dusky-brown with whitish margins to the feathers ; breast, abdomen, 
and sides of the body buffy-white ; under-surface of flight-quills dark hair-brown; 
lower aspect of tail similar. Eyes nearly black, bill dark horn, gape yellow, legs 
and feet grey-brown. Collected in East Murcliison, Mid-west Australia, in September 
1909. 
Fggs. Two eggs usually form the clutch. A pair taken at Wiluna, East Murchison, 
Western Australia, on the 16th of August, 1909, is of a yellowish-buff ground¬ 
colour, zoned at the larger end with an indistinct band of minute spots of dull 
and cloudy markings of pale slate and umber. The eggs closely resemble, in 
miniature, some types of those of the Black and White Fantail (JRhipidura tricolor). 
Ovals in shape ; surface of shell smooth, and slightly glossy. 15-16 mm. by 12. 
Nest. Is a small open and rather shallow structure, somewhat loosely put together, and 
composed of small dead twigs and pieces of dry grass, etc., and matted together 
with cobwebs, and placed in the fork of a small horizontal limb, and very much 
after the manner of the nest of the Lalage tricolor , only of course much smaller. 
Lined with fine grasses, and a soft brownish vegetable matter. Usually placed 
in a bush (often dead and without foliage) and sometimes within 6 feet of the 
ground. Dimensions over all; 2 inches by nearly 1 £ inches deep ; and the egg 
cavity 1| inches across, by § of an inch in depth. 
Eggs. Two eggs taken at Cobbora, New South Wales, on the 28th of October, 1917. 
measure as follows : 14-15 mm. by 11. 
Breeding-months. September to end December. 
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