IIR 



records findiiic; it brooding during Fftbruai-y 1889, on tlio South 

 Poak of the range at an elevation of from 4,000 to 5,000 feet, in 

 the tops of Tree-ferns, each nest containing a single egg or young 

 pigeon. 



For an opportunity of examining an egg of this species I am 

 indebted to Mr. W. J. (Irinie, who, in the brushes of the Tweed 

 River, found a nest placed on a mass of " Lawyer Vines," 

 (Calamus australis), about six feet from the ground from which 

 he flushed the bird ; the nest was a very primitive structure, 

 behig simply a few sticks placed crosswise, without any cavity, 

 and barely sufficient to retain the egg in position. The egg is a 

 true ellipse in form, pure white, the texture of the shell being 

 line and slightly glossy, length 135 x 97 inch. Mr. Grime 

 infoi'ms me that in the neighbourhood of the Tweed River this 

 pigeon feeds principally on the ink-weed or dye-berry, a species 

 of Phytolacca. 



Hah. Eastern Australia. 



Threskiornis strictipennis, Gould. White Tins. 

 (louhU Han<1hk. B:h. AuM,:, Vol. ii., sp. 5:',9, p. iXk 



Although by no means a common bird, the present species is 

 widely distributed over nearly the whole of the Australian con- 

 tinent. Mr. K. H. Bennett has lately found the White Ibis 

 breeding in a large extent of flooded country overgrown with tall 

 dense Polygonum bushes, situated near the Lachlan River in New 

 South Wales, and from some interesting notes made upon the spot 

 I have extracted the followhig : — 



"On the 30th of November 1890, 1 started with the intention 

 of visiting the breeding place of (/efonticus s/nnicolUs, which to 

 reach I had to ride through nearly three miles of flooded country, 

 where the depth of water varied from a few inches to six feet. Some 

 time before reaching my destination, T could see thousands of G. 

 fipinicollis, flying al)Out and over the breeding place, but what 

 chiefly attracted my attention was two white objects appearing 

 as if the two large Polygonum bushes were covered with snow. 

 As I approached I could see that they were colonies of the White 

 Ibis, Threskiornis strictipennis, and when at last I reached the 

 spot, T found it was a breeding place, but to my disappointment 

 tlie nests only contained young ones in various stages, from just 

 hatched to partly fledged. As I rode up to the bushes on which 

 the nests were placed, the old birds of course flew off", and such of 

 the young ones that were strong enough to do so scrambled out 

 of the nests and attempted to conceal themselves in the dense 

 tangled mass of Polygouam stems on which the nests were placed, 

 but in doing so it was evident that numbers would perish, for I 

 could see them suspended by the neck, wings, or legs in all direc- 



