954 



NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



" From a pretty cai'eful scrutiny, wo judged that the most interestmg 

 heronry comprised some five-and-twenty nests; whilst those of the Shags, 

 closely iutei-mingled, were at least five or six times as numerous. We 

 carried away most carefully the tree fern top and nest, together with 

 several eggs; made no attempt to capture or kill a bird, being thus 

 mindful to excite as little alarm as possible, and had the pleasm-e of 

 seeing many of them retumiug to their nests. In the heromy the nests 

 must be repaired year after year, as the same spot has been an old- 

 established breeding station ; those birds which breed earliest appear 

 to select nm-series at the greatest height from the groimd, as it was 

 proved that the freshest eggs were in the lowest structures. The Heron 

 commences laying about the third week in November, it incubates about 

 fom- weeks ; when the young appear, so strongly is the parental instinct 

 developed in the old bird, that it assiunes a courage foreign to its natiu'e 

 at all other seasons, as it has been known to sufier itself to be taken on 

 the nest rather thaa desert its helpless offspring. It may be observed 

 that the young birds remain on the nest for a considerable period, thereby 

 the labom- of the old birds in biinging home a sufficient food supply is 

 much less than it would be if their young scrambled from the nest earlier 

 and took up several scattered stations." 



Some time subsequently Mr. Potts sent me a pair of the Heron's 

 eggs, which he gathered on that now historic trip, and with no small 

 amount of satisfaction did I place them in my cabinet. 



Mr. H. R. Elvery, on the 8th November, 1899, found a small 

 colony of White Egrets breeding in the Richmond River district of New 

 South Wales. The nests wei-e picturesquely situated in the topmost 

 branches of trees which were enveloped with masses of vines, on an 

 island in a swamp. Cormorants and Nankeen (Night) Herons were 

 likewise nesting near. 



707. — NoTOPHoyx nov^ hollandi.*!, Latham. — (548) 



WHITE-FRONTED HERON. 



Figure. — Gould: Birds of Australia, fol., vol. vi., pi. 53. 

 Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xxvi., p. 109. 

 Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Gould: Birds of Australia (1S4S), 

 also Handbook, vol. li., p. .299 (1S65); Kamsay : I'roc. Zool. 

 See, p. 341 (1S77) ; North : Austn. Mus. Cat., p. 31S (18S9). 



GeiKjraiiliical Distrihution. — Whole of Australia and Tastnauia; also 

 New Zealand, Loyalty Islands and New Caledonia; through New 

 Guinea (probably) to the Moluccas and the Celebes. 



Nest. — A platform, about 15 inches in diameter and 3i inches in 

 height, composed of coarse sticks, with smaller sticks or twigs Iniilt into 

 the centre, and placed in branches of an overhanging tree, usually near 

 water. The nest is much bespattered with lime and frequently re-used. 



