218 
MELIPHAGID2E. 
shaped structure outwardly composed of long, narrow, strips of 
stringy-bark, wool, and grass, firmly matted together, and lined 
inside with fine dried grasses, it is attached by the rim to a thin 
forked branch of a Eucalyptus, which is entirely hidden by the 
materials of which the nest is composed being worked over it; it 
measures exteriorly six inches and three-quarters in diameter, by 
four inches in depth ; internal diameter three inches and a-half, 
depth two inches and a-quarter. Another nest in the same 
collection, measures one inch deeper, externally and internally. 
The nest is always built at the extremity of a thin branch, some¬ 
times within a few feet of the ground, but not unfrequently at an 
altitude of forty or fifty feet. 
Eggs three in number for a sitting, usually elongated in form ; 
among a number of sets now before me, no two have exactly the 
same tints of ground colour or markings; and fade very much 
after being exposed to the light for any length of time. Two 
eggs in the Australian Museum Collection, are of a rich salmon 
colour, heavily blotched with cliestnut-red and deep bluisli-grey ; 
the latter colour appearing as if beneath the surface of the shell. 
Length (A) 1*26 x 0'9 inch ; (B) 1-22 x 0-9 inch. 
A set in the Dobroyde Collection taken by Mr. James Ramsay at 
Cardington, in December 1867, are elongated in form, of a dull, 
light pinkish-salmon colour, spotted and blotched with faint 
chestnut, and intermingled with obsolete markings of slaty-lilac, 
particularly towards the larger end. Length (A) 1-37 x 09 inch; 
(B) 1-44 x 0-92 inch; (C) 1-38 x 0-92 inch. 
The breeding season commences in October and extends over 
the months of November and December. 
Hob. Rockingham Bay, Port Denison, Wide Bay District, 
Dawson River, Richmond and Clarence Rivers Districts, New 
South Wales, Interior, Victoria and South Australia. ( Ramsay .) 
