THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
appearance ; flanks and tliighs olive-bro-mv; imder tail-coverts brownish-wh't 
with concentric markings of olive-brown ; under wing-coverts bufi, barred ‘tt 
dusky-brown; under-surface of wings ash-brown, broadly margined' on the 
web with yellowish-buff. Eyes dark brown, biU dark horn, feet dark grey 
length 274 mm. ; cuLmen 23, wing 160, tail 102, tarsus 34. Figured. Colled d 
at Atherton, near Cairns, North Queensland, in September, 1908. 
Adult jemale. Similar to the adult male. 
Eggs. Two eggs usually form the full clutch, although occasionally only one egg is found • 
but there is no record of a three-egg clutch ever having been taken. A clutch f 
two eggs, taken in the Tinaroo jungle, Barron River Valley, North Queensland 
on the 22nd of December, 1908, is of a rich creamy-brown, resembling the eses 
of Mluradus macidosus and Mlurcsdus viridis, except that they ai'e of a much 
distinct brownish colour, and when placed side by side the difference is very marked 
not only in the colour, but also in the general structure of the shell. Ovals in shape 
Surface of shell fine, smoothly granulate and glossy. 42 by 27 nun. ™ 
Nest. Is a very frail, open, shallow structme, composed of tliin dry sticks, lined inside with 
thin dry twigs, upon which the eggs rest. It is so loosely put together that great 
care must be exercised in removing it from the tree; it is enthely a different kiud 
of structure to that made by the JEhiroedus. Nest is built in a thick mass of fohage 
or clump of vines in a .tree, at heights varying from 15 to nearly 80 feet up from 
the ground. Dimensions over all : Vary according to the position in which the 
nest is built; an average specimen measures 6 to 7^ inches across over all, by 2 to 
nearly 2J inches in depth over aU. The egg cavity is very shallow, and often only 
simply a platfonn, resembling the flimsy, flat, stick nest built by some of the Fruit 
Pigeons. 
Breeding-months, October, November and December. 
When Ramsay described this new genus and species the only field-notes he 
could give read : “Tliis species is not as yet known to build a bower; but like 
the Cat-Birds it clears a large space under the brushwood some 9 or 10 feet 
in diameter, and ornaments the cleared part tvith tufts and httle heaps of gaily 
tinted leaves and yomig shoots.” 
IVIr. Thos. P. Austin has wTitten me : “I found this species very common 
in the scrubs of the Upper Barron River, North Queensland, wliile I was upon 
a visit there in 1907. Their playgromids were very numerous, and were formed 
by clearing a large space, most of which were about five feet across, from which 
every dry leaf and stick is removed, leaving the ground perfectly bare, upon 
which they place freshly gathered large leaves of one particular kind of tree. 
These leaves are usually about forty in number, sometimes many more, according 
to the number of birds frequentuig the playground ; as these leaves diy, they 
are carried away and fresh ones are gatliered to take their place.” 
Cornwall’s notes read : “ On the 28th December, 1902, I had the oppor¬ 
tunity of inspecting five playgromids, all witliin a few miles of Kuranda. No. 1. 
was situated in a dense tangle of lawyer-cane, and the loud call of the bird 
was heard long before we reached the locality, but, though we crawled as silently 
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