g.g NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRAUAN BIRDS. 



702. — Platibis fi.avipes. Oonld, — (542) 

 YELLOW-LEGGED SPOONBILL. 



I'igure. — Gould : Birds of Australia, fol., vol. vi., pi. 40. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xxvi., p. 51. 



Previous Descriflions of Eggs. — Ramsay : Proc. Linn. Soc, N.S. 

 Wales, vol. vii., p. 54 {1882) ; Campbell : Southern Science 

 Record (1S83). 



Geoc/rapltical Biafrihutia)!. — Australia in genenl. 



Nest. — Constructed of sticks, lined inside with leaves, and usually 

 situated in timber standing in a swamp or lagoon. 



Er/(/x. — Clutch, four ; oval in shape, or more compressed at one end; 

 texture of shell coarse ; surface slightly glossy and rough ; colour, dull 

 white, more or less soiled with nest stains. Dimensions in inches of a 

 pair: (1) 2-87 x 1-93, (2) 2-78 x 1-9, These eggs resemble those of the 

 Straw-necked Ibis, but are slightly larger ; moreover, the inside lining 

 of the shell is pale-yellow, whereas the lining of the eggs of the Ibis 

 is greenish. 



Ohnervationx. — This large and odd-looking bird has been found in 

 Queensland; New South Wales, Victoria, and South Austraha, and, 

 no doubt, also further west. The plumage is pure white. The 

 curious spoon-shaped bill, which is 7i inches in length, is yellowish, 

 legs and feet are the same colour, likewise the eyes. The 



total length of the bird is 38 inches. Like the Ibis, when severe 



droughts occur in the far interior, the Spoonbills quit their usual haimts. 

 and approach the sea-board. One was procured not far from. Melbourne 

 during the dry season of 1897. Its plumage seemed soiled with the 

 red dust of the interior. 



The eggs in my collection were kindly presented to me by Mr. Crisp, a 

 surveyor. He took them during October, 1883, from a solitary nest in a 

 swamp near Edenhopo, Victoria. However those Spoonbills usually 

 breed in small families and in company with other species of birds. The 

 Spoonbill's eggs in the collection of Mv. Charles French, junr., were also 

 taken in Western part of Victoria. His collector (Mr. H. Davis) states 

 they were taken from an open stick nest lined with leaves. The nest was 

 placed in a red-gum (Euatlypfux) tree in the centre of a lagoon or 

 lake. In the same tree was another nest containing four young. In 

 1889, on Berrimagad, Rivcrina, Mr. G. Bateman noticed Spoonbills 

 breeding in the same swamp with Straw-necked Ibis. In the " Pro- 

 ceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, " vol. vii. (1882), 

 the late Mr. K. H. Bennett gave a gi-aphic account of nesting outs 

 amongst Spoonbills, incidentally mentioning other species of brooding 

 birds, which he enjoyed in a favourite resort for water-fowl in the 

 Lachlan district (New South Wales). 1879. He concluded thus: — 

 " Having occasion about two years subsequently to revisit my father's 

 station, ' Yandembali,' from whidi Ihi.'; swamp is distant only a few 



