NESTS A\'D EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 527 



yellowish tone, spotted and irregiilarly splashed all over with chestnut, 

 also spotted with roundish niarlungs of dull grey. Dimensions in inches 

 of a pair from the Bloomfield River district : (1 ) MS x -95, (2) M6 x -95 ; 

 of a beautiful set from Cape York, riclily marked with short, wavy 

 blotches and lines of piu'plish-red and grey : (1) M9 x -91, (2) 1-19 x -91, 

 (3) 1-18 X -92. These eggs are much more marked and decidedly 

 smaller than those of the southern variety. 



Oljacrt'atiiiiu. — Dr. Ramsay writes : — " This northern variety of 

 Pitta xtrejjitdiiK I found common enough at the Herbert River and 

 scrubs near Cardwell. .Some of the specimens are deeper coloured and 

 smaller even than any I have seen from (Jape York ; others again arc 

 not distinguishable from the New South Wales Birds : the white spot 

 on the wing is almost obsolete in many from the ranges near Cardwell. 

 Their notes are exactly the same in all localities. The nests and eggs 

 are the same, and are found to vary in the same way as those dcsciibcd 

 and iigured by me in the 'Ibis,' 1867, p. 417. 



" One thing is certain, I never knew a- nest of either P. strejiitans 

 or P. simillima to contain more than three eggs ahke, and often two 

 out of the four (the usual number laid for a sitting) have been of a 

 finely-spotted and light-coloured variety, the other two strongly and 

 deeply marked." 



Dr. Sclater's testimony in the " Catalogue " is to the effect that " the 

 northern specimens (P. ><imUlima ) are smaller in pize, but not othei^wise 

 distinguishable from P. atrepitaiia, and there are several specimens in 

 ,1 series of intermediate dimensions, wluch it is difficult to as.sign to 

 either form without knowing the locality. 



As a field observer and collector, Mr. K. Broadbent evidently 

 beUeves in the two species of Pittas, for he states: — " SimiUima is 

 found in all the hill scnibs as far as Cape York. The nest is built at 

 the roots of a large tree, and is made in the shape of a dome nine 

 inches high with a diameter in pi'oportion. It is composed of decaying 

 leaves, palm-fibre, and twigs loosely put together, ingi-ess being obtained 

 at the front. Roughly speaking, I should say P. t^imillima extends as 

 far south as Halifax Bay. P. strejiifans reaches as far north as Rocking- 

 ham Bay. The extent of counti'y in which they both exist is therefore 

 about fifty miles." 



The following is a field note by Mr. W. B. Barnard when in the 

 Bloomfield River district, 1893 : — " Pitta, or Dragoon Bird. Found two 

 nests, one with two eggs, the other with four. Nest on gi'ound between 

 two projectmg roots, made of fan-palm fibre, dead leaves, small sticks, 

 &c. Resembles a bandicoot's nest, the hole being in the .side. First 

 nest found 5th December, second on 20th. ' 



