A£SrS AND EGGS Ob AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. ■j ^-^ 



Xest. — -Composed of grass and a lew leaves, and hidden among 

 thick debris at the foot of a tree in dense scrub (liamsay). Built in 

 the base of a thick clump of lawj-er (Calamus) canes; somewhat like a 

 Shiikc Thiiish's nest, and about a foot high. 



E(j(js. — Clutch, four to seven ; elliptical in shape, occasionally some 

 examples are more compressed at one end ; textui'e of shell fine ; 

 sui-facc glossy ; colour, dull-white, fairly blotched and spotted, particu- 

 larly about the larger end, with i-ufous or reddish-brown and pui'ple. 

 Dimensions in inches of a proper clutch: (1) 1-52 x 1-06, (2) 145 x Tl, 

 (3) 1-43 X 1-07, (4) 1-38 X 1-09; of a larger-sized pair: (1) 1-53 x 1-14, 

 (2) 1-5 X 1-15. 



Observations. — -This elegant Rail, conspicuous for its rusty-red liead 

 and neck, is found in Northern Queensland and some of the islands 

 beyond. Mr. Cockerell, who first collected the bird from a dry scnib 

 that fringed a small creek in the neighbourhood of Somerset, Cape 

 York, says he found the eggs, which were wliite. It is said that the 

 native name of tliis Rail is " Tangala, from a peculiar sound the bird 

 utters at night. 



Dr. Ramsay states : " I found this fine species of Rail by no means 

 rare in the dense scrubs which fringe the rivers and creeks of the coast 

 and range near Rockingham Bay ; but although tolerably plentiful, 

 they are always vei-y difficult to obtain, on account of the nature of 

 the localities they frequent and their retiring disposition. They are 

 seldom to be seen without Iving in wait for them, and not always then 

 can one obtain a shot, except, perhaps, at such close quarters as would 

 entirely destroy them. They move about more in the evenings and 

 early mom, and at night may be heard calling to one another as they 

 traverse the dense masses of rank vegetation, wliich abound in those 

 districts. I never met with them out of these scrubs, although thick, 

 swampy gi-ass-beds close bv were frequented by allied species. They 

 seem very local in their habits, a pair frequenting the same spot for 

 many months or perhaps the whole year round, and breeding near the 

 same place year after year ; the young soon begin to take care of them- 

 selves, and leave the parents before they are well able to fly. I found 

 them some four or five months old in pairs. The note resembles a hoarse 

 croak quickly repeated in a somewhat moiu'nful tone, and a quick 

 ' cluck, cluck ' when come upon suddenly. I was not fortunate enough 

 to find the nest and eggs myself, but shortly after I left the Herbert 

 River, I received a fine set of these eggs from Inspector Robert 

 Johnstone, to whom the bird is well known, and who assures me that 

 after finding the nest with eggs he left them until he had twice seen the 

 bird sitting thereon, and that he might be perfectly sure there could 

 be no mistake as to their identity." 



I have received the eggs of this splendid Rail taken in New Guinea 

 as well as from the mainland by Mr. W. Saycr, who found a chitch of 

 six near the Russell River, when on a botanical tour to Mount Bellen- 

 den-Ker for Baron von Mueller, 1886. Other eggs were taken in the 

 Cooktown district at the end of January (1895). also white eggs, as 



