NOTOPHOYX. ai 



•' Some years af^o I saw at Jnterlal<en a pure white Heron ilyiiii; about amoiiL; a small lot 

 of White-fronted Herons, and on making inquiry found that it had been noticed the preceding 

 year. In size it appeared to differ from its companions to no appreciable extent, but 1 unfortu- 

 nately could not get sufficiently near to mal<e as accurate observations as I would have wished. 

 The birds frequented an arm of Crescent Lake, and upon my approach would fly off to the other 

 side of the stretch of water, with of course the same result when I got round to their side after 

 some trouble. Is it not probable that this bird was abnormal (an albino) ? The size, flight and 

 perfect comradeship with tlie coloured birds would lead to such a conclusion." 



The nest is a nearly flat or saucer-shaped structure, outwardly formed of sticks and lined 

 with finer material and twigs, and averages about fifteen to eighteen inches in diameter by four 

 in depth. It is usually built on a horizontal branch, or in an upright fork of a tree overhanging 

 a river, creek or dam, but occasionally some little distance from water. The height of the nest 

 varies generally from twenty to eighty feet. A tenanted nest I saw in a large Eucalyptus, 

 overhanging the Moorabool River, X'ictoria, was built on the topmost branches, at an altitude 

 of fully one hundred feet. 



The eggs are usually four or live in number for a sitting, and vary in shape from a true 

 ellipse to oval and elongate-oval, and are of a pale bluish-green colour, frequently with traces 

 of lime here and there, the shell being comparatively close-grained, smooth and lustreless. 

 There is a great disparity in size of sets from different nests, the smaller eggs probably being 

 laid by young birds. A set of five taken taken by Mr. K. H. Bennett, at Yandembah 

 Station, Lachlan River, New South Wales, on the 2yth July, 1889, measure: — Length (A) 1-89 



X 1-35 inches: (B) 1-85 x 1-43 inches; (C) 1-97 x 1-37 inches; (D) 1-83 x 1-37 inches; (E) 

 1-94 X 1-37 inches; the latter egg is represented on Plate B. XIX., fig. 6. A set of four taken 

 in the same locality on the 24th August, 1890, measures: — Length (A) 1-97 x 1-35 inches; 

 (B) 1-85 X 1-36 inches; (C) I'Si x 1-35 inches ; (D) 1-79 x 1-37 inches. Three eggs of a set 

 of four taken by Mr. H. G. Barnard, at Coomooboolaroo, Duaringa, Queensland, on the 5th 

 March, 1893, measure: — Length (A) 174 x 1-37 inches; (B) 1-74 x 1-35 inches; (C) 177 



X 1-37 inches. Two more sets of four eggs each were taken by Mr. Barnard on the 12th 

 March, 1893. 



August and the four following months constitute the usual breeding season in New South 

 Wales, but it is greatly influenced by the rains. In the winter of 1889, an unusually wet season, 

 following a drought, the late Mr. K. H. Bennett took a set of five heavily incubated eggs on 

 the 29th July, and two sets of incubated eggs a week earlier. That drought also affects this 

 species is proved by Mr. T. P. .\ustin, who obser\'ed them push the eggs out of the nest when 

 the full complement was laid. In Queensland Mr. H. G. Barnard found it breeding from 

 September to April, and has taken several sets of fresh eggs early in March. 



Notophoyx pacifica. 



PACIFIC HERON. 



Anlea pacifica, Lath., Ind. Urn. Suppl., p. Ixv. (1801) ; Gould, Bds. Austr., fol. Vol. VI., pi. 52 

 (1848); i.L, Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. IL, p. 297 (1865). 



yofvjjhoi/x pacifica, Sha-rpe, Cut. Bds. Brit. Mas., Vol. XXVI., p. Ill (1898); id., Hand-1. Bds, 

 Vol. L, p. 196 (1899). 



Adult .malk. — Gewral culuur above dark daty colour ylonsed ivilhyreeu, in some specimens with 

 bromy-green, which is more prominent in some specimens than others ; the feathers of the back lanceolate 

 a7id lengthened in form ; svapnliirs, /ilutnes and elongated feathers at the sides of the tipper buck 

 dull purplish-red, t/ie ends of some of the former bronzy-s^ate colou,r ; npp>er wing-corerts and inner- 



