NESTS AXD EGGS OF AZ'STRALIAN BTRDS. 543 



Ne^t. — Usually placed in companies in a swamp, just above the water 

 in reed beds or on polvgonum bushes — portions of the reeds or bushes, 

 as the case may be, being broken down into a platform, wliich is 

 augmented with sticks, rushes, &c. 



Eggs. — Clutch, three to foui-, occasionally five; roundish oval in 

 shape ; texture of shell decidedly coarse ; surface shght trace of gloss 

 and pitted; colour, dull-white at fii-st, but becomes more or less soiled 

 with nest stains. Inside lining of the shell gi-eenish. Dimensions 

 in inches of a chitch : (1) 2-68 x 1-85, (2) 2-49 x 1-82, (3) 2-46 x 1-8, (4) 

 2-42 X 1-76. 



Ohservation.t. — This Ibis is probably the most common variety, having 

 been observed in every State of Australia, wliile examples have 

 been taken in New Guinea. Without going into a tecluiical 

 or detailed description of tliis viseful bird, its general appear- 

 ance may be stated as dark bronzy -green or pvirple on the upper surface 

 of the body, the under surface being pure white. Tlie head and com- 

 paratively slender bill, which is slightly ciuved, are black, with eyes to 

 match. The legs are brownish, rimning into a pinlrish colour at the 

 thighs. The birds are adorned with a tuft of straw-like feathers, 

 which hang from the neck (hence the common name. Straw-necked), 

 the singular appendage being smaller in the female. Tlie total length 

 of a bird is about 28 inches, including the bill, 8 inches. At times the 

 Straw-necked Ibis may be seen perambulating the plains in quest of 

 grasshoppers, insinuating its long sickle-shaped bill into cricket holes, 

 or wading knee-deep in lagoon or billabong in search of frogs, shelled 

 molluscs, &c. During sustained flights the flocks arrange themselves 

 into a string, or in the form of a V or other letter, and when fljnng high, 

 as they usually do, the Straw-necked variety, on account of its white 

 breast, can hardly be distinguished from the White Ibis. In Gould's 

 time, after a severe drought, in 1839, he found the Straw-necked Ibis 

 in such abundance on the Liverpool Plains, New South Wales, that to 

 compute the number of birds in a single flock was simply impossible. 

 When feeding upon the ground, he further remarked that the bii-ds 

 packed closely, and the downward action of the bills and the upward 

 movement of the tails imparted to the whole a curiously agitated 

 appearance. 



To Mr. D. Le Souef I am indebted for a perfect set of eggs of tliis 

 Ibis. Mr. Le Souef never does anything by halves — in addition to 

 the specimens, he gave me the benefit of his field observations regar- 

 ding the large rookery he Nnsited this year (1900) in Eiverina, New 

 South Wales. Amongst Ws tropliies were some very interesting snap- 

 shots of flocks of Ibis on the wing. 



On accoimt of the favourable season, he estimated that no less than 

 100,000 birds had congi-egated to breed in a swamp about foiu- hundi-ed 

 acres in extent. Tlie swamp was about three feet deep, and more or 

 less covered with Polygonum bushes. These the birds trampled down 

 into rough platforms to within six or nine inches of the water, and 

 constructed thereon gi-een twig nests about six inches across by two 



