NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 955 



f''.)'.!"- — Clutch, four to five ; elliptical iu shape ; texture of shell 

 somewhat coai-se ; suiface slightly glossy ; colour, pale bluish-green, when 

 fresh the shade is exquisite for beauty. Dimensions in inches of a 

 proper clutch: (1) 2-03 x 1-35, (2) 2-0 x l-3u, (3) 1-96 x 1-37, 

 (•4) 1-92 X 1-38, (5) 1-89 x 1-36. (Plate 26.) 



Observations. — No bird of its kind is probably more common than 

 the White-fronted HeroUj or so-called Blue Crane of the colonists. It 

 is common to the whole of Australia and Tasmania, and wherever is 

 a sheet of water, a river, or the mud flat of an estuaiy there will surely 

 be found the attendant Blue Crane. The White-fronted Heron takes 

 its .vernacular name from its conspicuous white face and throat, while 

 all the rest of the plumage is bluisli-gi'ey or slate-coloured, wearing a 

 brownish tinge on the under parts. The bill is leaden colour, with eyes 

 to .match, and the legs ai'e of a yellow hue. The bird is smaller than 

 the Pacific Heron, being about 24 inches long. Its flight is heavy and 

 irregulai', and when on the wing or distiu'bed it utters a loud hoarse 

 note. When in search of food it wades knee deep into the water in 

 quest of marine insects, crabs, fish, &c., and when on land will jiot despise 

 small reptiles. 



These birds do not build in, a hero my like some of the other species, 

 nor are the soUtaiy nests always placed near water. Once I found a 

 nest with young in a box (Eucalyptus) tree, on the plains near Pyramid 

 Hill, Victoria, some distance from the nearest swamp. The youngster 

 was a comical looking creature, clothed in greyish down, and when 

 distm-bed tluiist its long snake-like head and neck into the air and waved 

 it to and fro. 



When on the Loddon, in 1884, I observed a Heron sitting on her 

 nest in a tree which also contained a Goshawk's, nest. 



In Tasmania, five clutches of five eggs each were taken from the 

 same Heron's nest, and, notwithstanding, the bird succeeded in rearing 

 a brood before the season expired ; therefore the species woidd appear 

 to be a persistent layer. 



Usual, breeding montLs from September to December or January. 



708. — NoToPHuYx PACiriCA, Latham. — (547) 

 WHITE-NECKED (PACIFIC) HERON. 



Figure. — Gould : Birds of Australia, fol., vol. vi., pi. 52. 

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

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

 Wales, vol. vii., p. 324 (1882); Campbell: Southern Science 

 Record (18S3) ; North : Austn. .\lus. Cat., p. 317, pi. 18, fig. 2, 

 (1889). 



Geographical Distribution. — Whole of Australia and Tasmania. 



