PUASFKDtlFIIOKA. 



31: 



leaves, and \inelets, many of the leaves being utilised which ha\e fallen into the angle from 

 the surrounding and o\erhanging trees. They are very difficult to find, looking from the outside 

 just like a hunch of dead leaves, and measuring from six to eight inches in external diameter 

 according to the width of the frond angle in which they are placed. Two eggs is the number 

 laid for a sitting. The breeding season conmiences in October, and continues through the 

 four following months." 



The nest figured is in the collection of the South Australian Museum, Adelaide, and 

 is reproduced from a photograph, sent by the Director, Dr. E. C. Stirling. While recently in 

 Adelaide, Mr. A. Zietz, the Assistant Director, kindly afforded me an opportunity of describing 

 this nest, among others in the collection. It is placed between the nearly upright leaf-stalks 



of a Palm, and is an open 

 cup-shaped structure formed 

 chiefly of dead leaves and the 

 stems of a climbing plant, the 

 inside being sparingly lined 

 witii long, coarse, wire-like 

 fibres. Externally it aver- 

 ages about seven inches in 

 diameter by seven in depth, 

 the inner cup measuring five 

 inches across by two inches 

 and a half in depth. This 

 nest was taken at Somerset, 

 near Cape York, and con- 

 tained two eggs. It is worthy 

 of note that cast snake-skins 

 do not appear to be used by 

 this bird in the construction 

 of its nest. 



The eggs are usually two 

 in number for a sitting, and 

 are small for the size of the 

 bird, being but slightly larger 

 than those of its lesser con- 

 gener. Queen Victoria's Rifle- 

 bird. They vary in shape 

 from true and thick o\ als to elliptical and elongate-oval; some are slightly flattened on 

 the larger end, others compressed near the centre, the shell being close-grained and its surface 

 smooth and glossy. In ground colour they vary from dull white to creamy-white, and from 

 sandy-buff to yellowish-buff, and this is marked with bold longitudinal streaks, and a few fine 

 freckles of different shades of umber or yellowish-brown, intermingled with pale bluish-black 

 or ink-like markings, some of the latter appearing as if beneath the surface of the shell. As a 

 rule, the longitudinal streaks predominate on the larger end, and are on the surface. In most 

 specimens they are well defined, in others the streaks are short and have a blurred look, as if 

 the colour had been placed when wet on the larger end of the egg, and smeared with the finger 

 longitudinally down its surface. All the markings, however, are of different shades of umber, 

 brown, yellow, and bluish-black, or of an ink-like hue, and whether large or small, well defined 

 or faint, are with few exceptions longitudinal, or have a tendency that way. .V set of two 



NliST OF PKINCK ALHKRIS lilFLK lillir). 



