382 NESTS AND EGGS OF FOUR SPECIES OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



LOPHOPHAPS FERRUGINEA, Gould. 

 Rust-coloured Bronze-wing. 



Although freely distributed in favourable situations over a wide 

 expanse of country, the habitat of the present species, unlike its 

 near congener Lophophaps plumifera, is entirely restricted to the 

 western portion of the Australian continent. Its range extends 

 from the Murchison River in West Australia to the Lennard 

 River in the north-western portion of that colony. Future 

 research will doubtless extend this range through a similar tract 

 of country as far north as Cambridge Gulf. 



For an opportunity of describing properly authenticated eggs 

 of this species, I am indebted to Mr. A. Zieiz, F.L.S., Assistant 

 Director of the South Australian Museum. These eggs, two in 

 number, formed part of the collection brought to Adelaide by 

 Mr. G. A. Keartland, one of the members of the ill-fated Calvert 

 Exploring Expedition. They were taken in March, 1897, near 

 the Fitzroy River, North-west Australia, by Mr. J. Harris, from 

 a slight grass-lined depression beneath the shelter of a spinifex 

 tussock. In shape they are swollen ellipses, and are more 

 globular than the generality of pigeon's eggs, the grain of the 

 shell being very fine, and its surface slightly glossy. They are of 

 a uniform pale cream colour. Length, (A) 094 x 0-77 inch ; (B) 

 9 X 0-77 inch. 



Dr. E. C. Stirling, F.R.S., the Director of the South Austra- 

 lian Museum, informs me that the ornithological results of the 

 Calvert Exploring Expedition in West Australia, which include 

 some interesting field notes and original observations made by 

 Mr. Keartland on this and many other species, will shortly be 

 published in the Transactions of the Royal Society of South 

 Australia. 



