THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Eggs. Three to five eggs form the clutch. A clutch of three eggs taken at the Coongan 
River, ]\Iid-western Australia, on the 16th of August, 1908, is of a pure wSte 
Ovals in shape. Surface of shell fine, smooth, and very slightly glossy 16 bv 10 
mm. ^ 
Eesi. ^nstruct^ of dried grasses, and of the usual bottle-shape, built or placed on its 
side, and lined with fine grasses and feathers. 
Breeding-ftionths, Probably September to January. 
It is somewhat strange to note the extraordinary number of undescribed species 
of Austrahan birds Gould was able to find in Enghsh collections when he first 
turned his attention to the Austrahan avifauna. Undoubtedly it was this 
plenitude of novelties that determined his expedition to Australia to discover 
many more. 
This species was named before his departm'e, and upon his return he 
wrote: “I observed this beautiful Finch rather thinly dispersed on the sides 
of the river Namoi, particularly along the sloping banks covered ^\ith herbage, 
where it appeared to be feeding upon such grasses and other annuals as afforded 
seeds congenial to its taste. I also frequently observed it among the rushes 
which grow in the beds of mud along the sides of the water.” 
Heartland found them in the vichiity of the telegraph line, near the junction 
of the Fitzroy and Margaret Rivers, where they appeared to be permanently 
located. They were generally seen in small flocks. 
Capt. S. A. White says: “ Met wdth in numbers between the Katherine 
River and Pme Creek, N.T.; beautiful little birds; they were feeding upon 
a coarse grass-seed and could be seen clinging to the head of the grass 
searching for the seed, often hanguig head downwards.” 
Whitlock wTote from the Pilbarra Goldfield : “ Found both on the upper 
Coongan and also the de Grey, but local in the extreme. I disturbed a sitting 
female from her nest in a small bush in the bed of the Coongan whilst watchhig 
a pair of Black-fronted Dottrels {.^gialitis melanops). I was much puzzled 
at first, as I could see at once the nest was not that of T. mstanotis. It was 
very round, rather large, and woven in quite a different maimer, and, moreover, 
had a scant lining of wlute feathers. I hid mj^self and watched, and after a 
time the female shpped back into the nest. I saw at once I had fomid somethuig 
new to myself. I returned to camp for my gun, and eventually secured a pair. 
On comparing them with the description m Halls’ ‘ Key,’ I was rather puzzled. 
I fomid the tail not very long, and the plumage of the female very similar to 
that of the male — just a little less pronounced, in fact. Hall states ‘ Female, 
uniform buffy-broivn.’ ” 
“I subsequently found this should refer to the nesthng, not to the adult 
female. On the de Grey I secured a couple of nestlings for examination, with 
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