XEN'OHHYNCHUS. 1/ 



While resident at Circular Head, Tasmania, Ur. Lonsdale Hoiden wrote me; — " On the 

 15th April, iSgi, I shot a Bittern ('7j'()('<;»n;s /'(i'i77ti/)/i7;/sy on a farm on the Black River Road. 

 It was in a small swamp close to the house, and behind the orchard. When first flushed it 

 flew only some fifty yards, and was easily approached a,i,'ain and driven towari'.s me." 



The nest is formed of reeds or rushes, bent and trampled down into a platform about fifteen 

 inches in diameter and nine in depth, and usually constructed amon^' the growing reeds or rushes 

 of a swamp. In Riverina it has also been known to form a nest of water-weeds in the centre of 



a thick Polyi^iniini! bush. 



The eggs are four or live in number for a sitting, \arying in form from a thick oval to 

 oval, some specimens being rather pointed at the smaller end, and of a uniform pale olive, the 

 shell being close-grained, smooth and lustrous ; when e.xamined with a lens, shallow longitudinal 

 grooves are found in some eggs, in others very small granulations or pittings. Two eggs in the 

 Australian Museum Collection, taken by Mr. C. C. Talbot in November, iSgo, from a nest in 

 the reed-beds on iNIoonbar Station, near Warren, New South Wales, measure : — Length (A) i-gS 



X 1*47 inches; (B)2-i2 x i-5 inches. .A rounded-oval egg measures: — I'gS x f35 inches. 

 A set of four taken on the 15th December, 1S94, by the late Mr. H. G. Evered, on Gulpha 

 Swamp, near Moira, Southern New South Wales, measures: — Length (A) i'93 x 1-52 inches, 

 this egg is represented on Plate B. XIX., fig. .5 ; (B) 1-97 x i'5 inches; (C) fg4 x 1-41 inches; 



(D) 2-03 x 1-37 inches. 



In Eastern Australia, October and the four following months constitute the usual breeding 

 season of this species. In Riverina the late Mr. II. G. Evered once took fresh eggs at the 

 latter end of December. 



Family CICONIID^. 

 Sub-family CICONIIN^. 



O-en-aS Z^^EHSTOISIEai-^-nSrCHCTJS, Bonaparte. 



Xenorhynchus asiaticus. 



HLACK-NECKED STOKK. 



Mi/cl'i-ia aaiatka, Lath., Iiul. Orn., Vol. II., p. (170 (1700). 



Mycteria aiiMrahs, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol. Vol. VI., pi. .t1 (1S4S). 



X'-norhynchus australiii, Gould, Handbk. Hds. Austr., Vol. II., p. 293 (1865). 



Xenurhynclins asiaticus, Sharpe, Cat. Bd.s. Brit. Mus., Vol. XXVI., p. 310 (1898) ; id., Hand-1. 

 Bds, Vol. I., p. 191 (1S99). 



Adult ma lb, — Head and neck glossy metallic-yreeii with purplish and bronze ret^ectiuns on the 

 occiput and nape ; hind-neck, hack, rump, lesser npper iving-coverts, Lend of the tvi)ig and all the 

 under surface pure while; median and greater wing-coverts and innermost secondaries black, glossed 

 until steel-blue a7id metallic-green ; tail-feathers similar, but ho/viuy n_^hitish bases: remainder of the 

 (juills white ; bill black ; legs and feet coral-red ; iris }iar.el. Total length in the flesh .jO inches, iving 

 22, tail 9, bill 12, tarsus 12. 



Adult female. — Similar in plumage to the male. 



Distribution. — Western Australia, North-western .Australia, Northern Territory of South 

 Australia, Queensland, New South Wales. 



