SPHENURA. 
125 
but remained close by in a small Swamp-oak (Casurinci, sp.), I 
had a good opportunity of satisfying myself that it was a veritable 
Emu Wren. The eggs were of course quite warm, and within a 
few days of being hatched : this may account for the bird being 
so unwilling to leave the spot ; for when I returned about five 
minutes afterwards, the female was perched upon the same tuft of 
grass, and within a few inches from where I had taken the nest. 
The whole nest is of an oval form (but that part which one might 
term the true nest is perfectly round), placed upon its side ; the 
mouth very large, taking up the whole of the upper part of the 
front. It is very shallow —so much so that if tilted slightly, the 
eggs would roll out, they being almost upon a level with its edge. 
It is outwardly composed of grass and the young dry shoots of the 
reeds which are so common in all the. swamps near the Hunter 
River, lined with fine grass, roots, and finally a very fine green 
moss. It is very loosely put together, and requires to be moved 
very gently to prevent it from falling to pieces. The eggs were 
three in number, six and a-half lines long by four and a-hulf broad, 
sprinkled all over with minute dots of a light reddish-brown 
(brighter in tint than those of the Malurus cyaneus), but more 
numerously at the larger end, where they are blotched with the 
same colour. One of the three had no blotches, but was only 
minutely freckled all over. The ground colour is a delicate white 
with a blush of pink before the egg is blown.” ( Ramsay , Ibis , 
1863, Vol. v., p. 177.) 
fifth. Wide Bay District, Richmond and Clarence Rivers 
Districts, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, 
Tasmania, West and South-West Australia. (Ramsay.) 
Genus SPHENUBA, Lichtenstein. 
SPHENURA BRACHYPTERA, Latham. 
Gould, Handbk. Bds. Ausl., Vol. i , sp. 202, p. 342. 
“ The nest is an oval dome shaped structure, composed of grasses 
and debris; it is placed at the foot of some bushy shrub and 
