22 CORVID^. 



eg"s. In open forest and table-lands, the nest is usually built in a Eucalyptus. When built 

 in arid localities, it is placed on any suitable branch, and often many miles from permanent 

 water, advantage being taken to obtain the necessary mud from the shallow pools of water left 

 by some passing thunderstorm. Of recent years, in the western parts of New South Wales and 

 Queensland, the mud is often procured from the margins of the sheets of water formed by artesian 

 boring in these hitherto dry tracts of country. 



The flock of six birds, previously referred to at Yandembah homestead, all assisted in the 

 construction of a nest. It was commenced on the ist June, 1889 — the season being an unusually 

 wet one, and the birds breeding very early — and on the 12th July the late Mr. K. II. ISennett 

 took from it five slightly incubated eggs. 



The number of eggs varies, according to the number of birds in the connnunity belonging 

 to each nest. Four or five are more frequently laid, sometimes six, and on rare occasions eight, 

 but on Wambangalang Station, near Dubbo, in October, 18S3, Mr. E. H. Lane took nine eggs 

 from a nest of this species. In several instances, however, I have found nests with only two or 

 three incubated eggs, or young ones. Each of these nests was evidently occupied by only one 

 female. It is possible that they may have had portion of their contents abstracted by a Raven 

 or Crow, for these birds are always ready to plunder the nests of the Chough. There is safety 

 in numbers, however, and should a Raven attempt to disturb a sitting bird belonging to a 

 community, her angry cries at once bring a flock of excited birds to her assistance, and the 

 intruder has to beat a hasty retreat. It is a difficult matter to decide how many females lay in 

 a single nest, but in a large number of sets now before me, the greater portion of the eggs 

 belonginz to the sets of four, or five, from each nest are, as a rule, alike in shape, size, colour, 

 and disposition of markings. Many sets, however, contain two or more distinct types of eggs, 

 the variation increasing with the greater number in the set. 



A nest in the Group collection, taken by Mr. H. L. White at Belltrees, near Scone, on 

 the 8th September, 1898, is outwardly constructed of mud, mixed with grass and strips of bark, 

 the inside being lined with bark fibre and opossum fur. It measures externally ten inches and 

 a half in diameter, by five inches and three-quarters in depth; internally eight inches in 

 diameter by three inches and a half in depth. This nest was built in a " Yellow Box " tree, 

 and contained three young ones and an addled egg. On the 28th August, 1899, Mr. li. L. 

 White forwarded to the Museum five unblown fresh eggs, taken from a nest in the same tree, and 

 built by apparently the same comnmnity of birds, six in number. The eggs are of two fairly 

 distinct types, two of them being oval with the inky-grey markings predominating, the remaining 

 three short rounded ovals with the olive-brown blotches more numerous than the inky-grey 

 markings, still it is possible for all to have been laid by one female, for frequently nests of 

 other species are found with two very distinct types of eggs in the sitting. 



The eggs vary from oval to elongate oval, and thick ovals are not uncommon, others are 

 rounded or pointed at either end, and some are slightly pointed only at the smaller end, the 

 shell being thick, coarse-grained, and minutely pitted, although as a rule slightly glossy, while 

 others have the surface dull and lustreless. The ground colour varies from white to cream or 

 pale brownish-white, which is boldly blotched and spotted with different shades, ranging from 

 olive-brown to blackish-brown, and intermingled with similar underlying markings of slaty or 

 dull inky-grey. As a rule the markings are evenly distributed over the shell, but in some 

 instances they form large isolated patches of one colour laid over part of another, and confined 

 to one side or end of the egg. I have an unusually small set of four, which, judging by their 

 shape and colour are all presumably laid by the same bird. Three of them are very sparingly 

 blotched with umber and blackish-brown, and the other egg of the set has small dots, spots, 

 and large confluent patches, the latter entirely obscuring the ground colour on the greater 

 portion of one side. The eggs of this species, however variable, cannot be confused with those 



