xoxm'iioyx. ^■j 



Mr. Henry K. Elvery wrote me as follows from Alstonville, Richmond River, New South 

 Wales: — "On the 8th November, 1899, I paid a visit to Stony Island, Tuckiana Swamp, 

 Kichmond Riser, and fuund the White E),'ret (Hcivdias allni) breeding; in company with I'hahi- 

 civcoi-a.x indanoU-HCHS. The trees on the island were covered with a tliick viny growth, and many 

 of the nests were placed on the top of these vines, and could not be seen from the ground. By 

 climbing up the higher trees overlooking this thick growth, I could locate the position of the 

 nests. Four eggs was the full clutch. I made a second visit to the island on 29th November 

 following, and, as I expected, found that the birds had laid again." 



Mr. Robert Grant, Taxidermist of the Australian Museum, lias handed me the tollowing 

 note: — " I have procured on several occasions, in the interior of New South Wales, the Large 

 White Heron (Hci'odiiu alba), although usually a shy and retiring species. In No\ember, 1883, 

 when collecting at Collyburl Station, near Narromine, I was seated on a bank of the Maccjuarie 

 River, attending to some birds I had shot, when I noticed a large White Heron circling around 

 in the air, and fortunately for me it came down towards a small sandy spit in the bed of the 

 river, just within range, so 1 shot it before it had time to settle. It proved to be an adult male 

 in full breeding plumage, and the long train of plumes was perfect, the bill being pale yellow 

 inclining to orange at the base. In the winter months all the birds I shot were without the 

 dorsal plumes, and had the bills black." 



Mr. E. U. Atkinson, while resident at Table Cape, on the north-west coast of Tasmania, 

 forwarded me the eggs of this species for description, together with the following note: — " Mr. 

 John Wright found a small colony of licvodiai alba breeding in a species of Eucalyptus over- 

 hanging a river on the east coast of Tasmania, during 1883. The three eggs I send you were 

 taken from a nest containing four, one egg of which was unfortunately broken in transit." 



The eggs are usually four in number for a sitting. The specimens referred to above vary 

 considerably in shape ; one specimen (.A) is an elongated oval tapering slightly towards the 

 smaller end ; (B) is nearly a true oval in form, and (C) a smaller oval ; they are of a pale sea- 

 green colour, one specimen having a slight limy covering on one side, giving the egg a blanched 

 appearance. The surface of the shell is smooth and lustreless, but has more or less minute 

 indistinct shallow pittings, and measures : — Length (.A) 2-13 x 1-43 inches; (B) 2-02 x 1-43 

 inches; (C) 1-95 x 1-48 inches. A set of four taken by Mr. S. Robinson on Buckiinguy Station, 

 near Warren, New South Wales, measures:— Length (A) 2 x 1-45 inches; (B) 1-97 x 1-42 

 inches; (C) 2 x 1-38 inches; (D)2-ii x 1-38 inches. The latter specimen is represented on 

 Plate B. X\TII., fig. 4. 



October and the three following months is the usual breeding season in Eastern Australia. 



Notophoyx novae-hollandiae. 



WHITE-FRONTED HEEON. 



Ardrn nonr-holUndice, Lath., Ind. Orn., Vol. II., p. 701 (1790); Gould, Bds. Austr., fol. Vol. VI., 

 pi. .53 (ISIS); id., Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. II., p 299 (186.5). 



Nolophoyx novr.-hol'andice, Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. XXVI., p. 109 (1898) ; id., Hand-1. 

 Bds., Vol. L, p. 196 (1899). 



Adult .m.\le. — General colour above slatij-ijrey, with a broivaish joash on the back from the 

 latter and the scapulars extend long lanceolate ornamental plumes, reaching nearly to the end of the 



