AESTS AXD EGGS Ul- AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. (JO5 



716. — Ardetta PusiLLA, Vicillol. — (b62) 

 MINUTE BITTERN. 



l-iguic. — Gould: Birds of Australia, fol., v(j1. vi,, pi. 68. 

 Reference.— QsX. Birds Brit. Mas., vol. xxvi., p. 234. 

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

 2nd scr., vol. X., p. 219 (1895). 



Gtixjraijhiail Di^trihutiuii. — Australia in general; al-o New Zeaiaiul. 



Sed. — Slight and Hal ; composed of reeds, &c., loosely put to- 

 gether ; placed sometimes on the gToiind. but usually on a little platform 

 formed by the reeds or rashes being trodden down within a foot or so 

 above the water's level. Dimensions, 6 to 7 inches in diameter by 1 to 

 2 inches thick. 



A',/,/.s. — Clutch, four, occasionally five ; elliptical in shape ; texture 

 of shell comparatively fine ; sui-face ven' shghtly glossy ; coloiu', white. 

 Dimensions in inches of a pair: (1) 1-26 x 1-0, (2) MS x -98. 



Ohser vat inns. — Hie Minute Bittern, although a rare species (ob- 

 viously on account of its secluded retreats), has been foimd in many 

 situations conducive to its habits, i.e., swampy reed beds, in Australia. 

 In the olden days the bird was reported in the swamps near Mordialloc, 

 Victoria. 



Only cue or two sets of their eggs have been taken, therefore wc 

 know little or nothing of the breeding habits of this little swamp 

 wader. Mr. A. J. North, in describing the eggs in Mr. Ker- 

 shaw's collection, remarks : — " Though a comparatively rare species, 

 the Minute - Bittern is widely distributed in suitable localities 

 over most parts of Eastern Australia. In New South Wales it 

 still frequents the neighbourhood of Sydney. Specimens have been 

 recently presented to the Trustees of the Australian iluseum that were 

 prociu'ed on the marshy grounds at the mouth of Cook's River during 

 January, 1895. A freshly-shot specimen was also received in the same 

 month from a coiTespondent at Narromine, a pastoral and agricultural 

 chstrict situated on the banks of the Macquarie River, and about three 

 hundred miles west of Sydney. 



" It appears, however, to be more freely distributed on the swamps 

 in the vicinity of the Murray River, for on several occasions 

 Mr. Everard has been successful in finding its nest and eggs near 

 Mathoui-a. Mr. James Kershaw, to whom I am also indebted for the 

 loan of the eggs of this species for description, has kindly sent me the 

 following notes relative to the taking of tliem : ' Mr. H. G. Everard 

 found the nest of the Minute Bittern, containing four fresh eggs, in a 

 swamp near Mathoura, during November, 1893. It was an open nest, 

 composed of aquatic plants and grasses and herbage growing about the 

 swamp, and was fastened to several reeds just above the sur-face of the 

 water. The bird was seen on the nest, and one was captured alive.' '' 



