IOl6 A'ESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



sticks, bark, &c.j and lined witli fine material, iuchidiug a few feathers 

 and sonio dowai. On a<:'COTint of its pictiu'csque situation it made an 

 excellent photograph (see jlliistration), which, however, was not taken 

 withovit difficulty, although 1 was ably assisted by my companion, 

 Mr. J. Gabriel. In the first place our frail flatty was wretchedly leaky ; 

 in the second place, owing to tlie depth of water about the nest, tlie 

 tripod of my camera would not stick in the mud — the buoyant legs, first 

 one and then another, were always struggling to the siu-face of the 

 water. 



Gould believed in the great fecundity of the Black Swan. However, 

 Ills test was hardly a satisfactory one, considering the pair of birds was 

 kept in captivity, and in England. They bred sixteen times in seven 

 years, laying 111 eggs, or an average of seven to a sitting. It was 

 observed that the male and female relieved each other in incubating.* 



The young Swans, or Flappers as they are called, are readily rowed 

 down and captured for sport; the old bii'ds, too, when they shed their 

 primary quill-feathers and are unable to fly. Monitors may be found 

 at almost any time of the year, but chiefly in summer — the middle of 

 November to the middle of February. 



It is music to the naturalist's ear to hear overliead the wild cries of 

 Swans passing by in the night. In provinces where the waters are 

 di-ying up. Swans travel their young overland bj' night, ai precaution, 

 no doubt, against attacks of diiu-nal birds of prey. The daring little 

 White-fronted Falcon has been known to boat a Swan on flight to the 

 gi'ound in a state of ten-or. 



Black Swans appear to lay in winter sometimeSj as well as under 

 a svmimer's sim. I possess a note from West Australia, of five eggs 

 liaving been taken on the Gascoyne River one I'ith July, and young were 

 seen on the Minilya the 7th of the same month. During July, 1894, 

 hundreds of Swans' eggs were taken on Moira Lakes, River Miu'ray, by 

 the blacks at the Cummcragunja Mission Station. 



On the other hand, in Januaiy, 1885, a Black Swan's nest (six eggs) 

 was obsei-ved on Lake Hindmarsh, Victoria. Again, on the 31st 

 January, 1894, about two dozen fresh eggs were taken on Lake Buloke, 

 near Donald, Victoria, and found their way into the fish market. 

 Mr. T. Lewis, the inspector, kindly gave mo one, which T lulpod to eat, 

 its flavovu' being as delicious as a domestic duck's. 



Usual breeding season August to Januaiy. An old observer says 

 that in Riverina they lay six weeks earlier or later, according to the 

 rains. Two or three broods are .supposed to bo reared a season. 



Writing of the Black Swan in South Queensland, Mr. Honnann Lan 

 quaintly says: — " No.st, three foot thick, placed in quiet water, firm on 

 the bottom. The female only sits (?). Floating grass stalks, should 

 t,hcy pass by, arc added to the nest. Six eggs are laid. Breeds (hroe 

 times a year: in March, August, .and November, The dutj' of the mate 

 is to protect; but before the female lays again ho chases the grown-ui) 

 young away." 



Cygnets about a week old are clothed in ligjit.ish-coloiu'cd down, 

 tipjiod with darjf-groy. Many eggs and yovuig arc destroyed by water- 



• Usually the female sitting by day anJ the male by night —A.J. C. 



