. Nests and eggs of birds found breeding in Australia and Tasmania . drooping branch of a blackbutt-tree,from thirty to fifty feet from the ground. Frequently several pairs build in the same tree,and often in company with the Helmeted Friar-bird and Drongo-shrike. Three is the usualnumber of eggs laid for a sitting, but on one occasion I found a nest containing months of October, November, December, and January constitute the usual breedingseason. The nest is an open, shallow, and neatly made structure of a deep saucer-shape, and isformed of long pliant stems and tendrils of climbing
. Nests and eggs of birds found breeding in Australia and Tasmania . drooping branch of a blackbutt-tree,from thirty to fifty feet from the ground. Frequently several pairs build in the same tree,and often in company with the Helmeted Friar-bird and Drongo-shrike. Three is the usualnumber of eggs laid for a sitting, but on one occasion I found a nest containing months of October, November, December, and January constitute the usual breedingseason. The nest is an open, shallow, and neatly made structure of a deep saucer-shape, and isformed of long pliant stems and tendrils of climbing plants, similar to that of S. maxiUaris; and,like the nest of that species, it is of so scanty a nature that when it contains eggs theyare visible through the bottom of the nest. average nest measures externally five inchesin diameter by two inches and a half in depth; the inner cup three inches and a half indiameter by two inches in depth. They are built at the junction of a forked horizontal branch,and generally where several thinner leafy stems sprout FlO-lilUI). Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen., Vol. xxix., p. 505 (1890). DICKURUS. 85 The eggs are usuallv three in number for a sitting, and as might be expected, vary asmuch in shape, c(3lour, and character of markings as those of tile preceding species, from whichthey cannot be distinguislied. In a number of sets now before me, ovals predominate in form,others are slightly compressed towards the smaller end, and some are elongate-oval. Theground colour presents even more variation tlian in the eggs of S. maxilhwis, for in additionto the pale apple-green to dull olise-green and brown shades, dull bluish-whites are notuncommon, and some specimens are almost white on the smaller end. .\s in the precedingspecies, the ground colour of typical specimens is irregularly blotched, spotted, and freckled withdifferent shades of reddish-brown or purplish-red, many of the markings in some specimensappearing as if beneath the su
Size: 1372px × 1820px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidnestseggsofb, bookyear1901
