946 



NESTS Ah'D EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



two more nests of the Ibises, both of which contained young lately 

 hatched (one three, the other four), covered with bhick down. One of 

 the nests from which I had taken the eggs on the 2nd inst. had in the 

 meantime been appropriated by the little Pink-eared Duck (Malncor- 

 hynchus memhranaceus), and now contained five Duck's eggs, enveloped 

 in the usual manner in a mass of down." 



Colonel W. V. Legge, in writing from Ceylon to Mr. Allan 

 O. Hume, remarks : " I fomid the Glossy Ibis nesting at the end of 

 March, 1872, in thorny trees gi-owing round a small tank in a wild part 

 of the south-east of the island; there were, I should say, about half- 

 a-dozen pairs of the birds present at the heronry, and they were nesting 

 partly in company with the Spotted-bellied Pelican and Pelican Ibises, 

 and partly with Spoonbills and Little Cormorants. The nests were 

 placed ou the lateral, lower branches of the trees, and were of the same 

 size as those of the Little Coniiorant. 



" I regret to say that at the date, the 25th of March, that I dis- 

 covered this heronry, the young of the Glossy Ibis were all hatched 

 and well grown, so tliat I failed to procure eggs of the species. The 

 young perched on branches contiguous to, or stood on, their nests, and 

 when I attempted to catch them, scrambled out of the way with con- 

 siderable agility. I, however, caught one or two, but I was less 

 fortunate with them than with the young of other species that I brought 

 away, for I found them dead on the following morning. " 



FAMILY— PLATALEID^ : SPOONBILLS. 



701. — Platalea regia, Gould. — (541) 

 BLACK-BILLED SPOONBILL. 



Figure. — Gould : Birds of Australia, fol., vol. vi., pi. 50. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xxvi., p. .(7. 



Previous Description of Eggs. — North : Proc. Linn. .Soc, N.S. Wales, 

 2nd ser., vol. X., p. 2iiS (1895). 



Geographiral Dixfrihufion. — Australia in general, except West; 

 also New Zealand (accidental), probably New Guinea and some of the 

 Austro-Malayan Islands. 



Next. — Flat, open ; composed of reeds trampled down, with the 

 additions of twigs, &c., and situated in a swamp. Sometimes con- 

 structed like that of a Heron in the upper branches of a tree. Dimen- 

 sions, about 24 inches across. 



Eggs. — Clutch, three to five ; long oval in shape, or compressed 

 towards one end ; texture coarse ; sm"face, slight trace of gloss and 

 minutely pitted ; colour, dull or chalky-white, sometimes without 

 markings, but usually moderately spla.shcd witli reddish-brown, most of 

 the markings being round i\w apox. Dimensions in inches of a clutch : 



