XENOHHYNCHUS. 



51 



the e-gs are fresh they are nearly pure white, with only the faintest pjssible bluish-qrey tinge, 

 but after being a few days in the nest they become soiled and stained, and assume'that din^gy 

 yellowish-white or pale yellowish-brown tint so characteristic of Stork's eggs. 



A young bird in the Australian Museum Collection, obtained at Lake Macquarie, New 

 South Wales, and presented to the Trustees by the late Mr. Charles Moore, Director 'of the 

 Botanic Gardens, Sydney, differs chiefly from the adult in being duller in colour and having the 

 head and neck covered with thick light smoky-brown down, and the mantle and lesser win-- 

 coverts brown, broadly margined with whity-brown ; the greater wing-coverts more distinctly 

 washed with green, and have their bases more conspicuously shaded with steel-blue; breast, 

 abdomen and under tail-coverts dull white. Total length 36 inches, bill 7, tarsus 1075. 



August until the end of April constitutes the breeding season in Eastern Australia, eggs laid 

 and young birds reared in the early months of the year, are probably of a second brood, although 

 on the Herbert River, Queensland, very young birds that had recently left the nest have been 

 observed in June. 



