.SG AKDEIO*. 



I see more tlian three youni;, and of Ihirty-tive nests whicli 1 examined with eggs, only two 

 contained four, the usual clutch being two or three eggs. From a close examination of the 

 young birds there appears to be a very plentiful supply of food, although it was high tide when 

 we landed, proving that these young birds could not have been fed for at least three or four 

 hours: they all had enormous stomachs, and when lifted up this appeared to be more than half 

 the bird." 



From Melbourne, Victoria, Mr. G. A. Keartland sent me the following notes: — "The 

 Nankeen Night Heron is found in every part of .Vustralia except the desert of the north-west, 

 but they are most numerous in the vicinity of ri\ers. During the day they hide amongst the 

 foliage in the highest branches, and towards evening resort to the swamps and shallows of 

 rivers to feed. .Although nocturnal birds, they are very alert in the brightest sunshine if a 

 person approaches their hiding place. I have known them to talce alarm when I have been 

 fully one hundred yards away. When disturbed they fly with a peculiar slow moth-like motion. 

 They are usually found singly or in pairs, but occasionally congregate in large numbers. At 

 Heidelberg I disturbed one at which a friend shot, and at the report of tlie gun fully one hundred 

 and fifty others flew from the trees in the paddock. .Along the northern risers they may be 

 found in almost every tree. I have reason to believe that the young birds retain their spotted 

 plumage until two years old. They thrive in captivity if fed on raw meat or smaH fish." 



From Blackwood, South .\ustralia, Mr. Edwin Ashby writes me: — " .Vir/avirn.v calcdonicns 

 is common on the Murray l-Iiver, from Murray Bridge to Mannum. .A few years ago a large 

 number of these birds had their roosting place during the day time in some large Red Gums, 

 half a mile down stream from Murray Bridge. .Another roosting place is ten miles above 

 Mannum, on the left bank of the river. The young are speckled during the first year, then 

 attain the adult plumage with the exception of the white-plumed crest, which I think probably 

 is produced in the third year. I have shot isolated specimens at Mount Barker and Blackwood, 

 both in the Mount L(jfty Hills. I also saw the birds roosting in trees o\'er the tram line 

 between i\delaide and Henley Beach twenty years ago, and three roosting in big Gums in 

 .Adelaide Botanic Park, but am afraid they have forsaken the neighbourhood of the city now." 



From Wynyard, on the north-west coast of Tasmania, Mr. E. IX Atkinson presented a 

 skin of this species to the Trustees of the .Australian Museum, and sent me the following note 

 under date yth July, ifigz : — " A boy has just brought me a Nankeen Night Heron, and I have 

 roughly skinned and forwarded it to you by this mail. Being from Tasmania I thought you 

 might like to have it." 



Dr. L. Holden wrote on the 31st August, 1892, as follows from Circular Head, Tasmania :^ 

 " Nydicoi'dx calcdonicns is resident in this neighbourhood. 1 obtained one this winter." 



The nest is an open and nearly flat structure of sticks, placed on a horizontal branch of a 

 bush or tree. The late Mr. Alex. Morton found it breeding in low bushes on Schnapper Island, 

 Port Stephens, New South Wales. The late Mr. K. H. Bennett found it breeding in large 

 numbers in flooded country, in company with Notophoyx pacifica and Platibis Jiavipcs. In North- 

 western .\ustralia Mr. Keartland states it is frei|uently met with in the Mangroves. 



The eggs are usually three, sometimes four, in number for a sitting, and vary from an ellipse 

 to oval and elongate-oval in form, and typically are of a uniform pale bluish-green colour, some 

 specimens being a yellowish-shade, in others the blue predominates, the shell being coarse 

 grained and usually slightly lustrous. Two eggs of a set of four in the Australian Musenm 

 Collection, taken by Mr. Bennett, in the Lachlan River District, in November, 1879, measure: — 

 Length (.\) 2'i x i'58 inches, this egg is represented on Plate B. X\TII., fig. 2; (B) 2-i5 x 

 f57 inches. Three eggs, taken from dilTerent nests by i\Ir. C. C. L. Talbot, at Moonbar 

 Station, near Warren, New South Wales, in November, 1890, measure respectively: — Length 

 (.A) 2'03 X 1-42 inches; (B) 1-98 x 1-48 inches; (C) 2-02 x i '57 inches. A set of three eggs 



