14C FEKISI'K.HID.K. 



Partrid.Lje, ,L;oin,i,' about in small ' coveys ' and rising with a sudden loud whirr. The two cream 

 coloured e;;ys are laid on a very few pieces of grass or herbage stems, often between two 

 boulders. Apparently the birds lay any time after rain, as I have observed eggs on the iSth 

 May, 1 2th September and 2nd October." 



Two eggs taken by Mr. E. J. Harris, in 1897, from a slightly grass-lined depression in the 

 ground, sheltered by a spinife.\ tussock, are swollen ellipses in form, and of a uniform pale cream 

 colour, the shell being close-grained, and its surface smooth and slightly lustrous. They 

 measure; — Length (A) 0-94 x 077 inches; (1!) o-g x 077 inches. These were the first 

 properly authenticated set of eggs taken and described. Another set in Mr. Keartland's collection 

 measures: — Length (A) 0-97 x 078 inches ; (B) 0-95 x 077 inches. A set of two taken by 

 Mr. Harris on the 12th March, 1898, near the Fitzroy River, measures : — Length (A) i-g6 x 078 

 inches; (B) 1-03 x o-8 inches. 



.\s pointed out by Mr. Caiter, there is apparently no fixed breeding season, the birds laying 

 at any time after rain. 



Ocyphaps lophotes. 



CRESTED BRONZE-WINfi. 



Cohiinha lo),/iu/,v, Tpiniii,, I'l. Col. Uli (1.S23). 



Oci//iIiiips lop/iof^s, Gould, lids. Au.sir , fol. V'ol. V., pi. 70 (1848) : iJ., Haiidbk. litis. Austr., Vol. 

 II., p. 13'J (I8G.3) ; Salviid., Cat. Ikls. Brit. Mus., Vol. XXI., p. 5:35 ( 1,^!);5) ; Sliarpp, Haud-I. 

 I'.ds., Vol. L, p. So (ISO'J). 



AlJUI.i M.M.K. —di'ufrii! riilonr abiici: lujlil oUre-linnvn, tin' Imitl-ifik ■<liai/ril iri/Ji i/rei/ : smaller 

 lessfr iiyiuy-covi'rl.-: i/i;'i/, l./ie rcnndndi-r ljii,if'i/-;j'>'ei/ traiisrrrscli/ Imrri'il irif/i hhick ; tlir iiiediitii xerics 

 •mori' pfoiwuiiO'dl ij y 1 ii/, siinilarl ij Ixirnil with lihick iiml tijijipil witli irliitp : {/ri'ater iviug-cuverts 

 metallic hronzij-ijrfeu, exlenmllij mnnjined and braadly ti/ijiftd iinth tr/iilf ; quills ffrei/ish-black, tlu' 

 apical portiiyn of tltc. oiUer locbs of llic secondaries bro7iz>/-purj)le, passiiuj into a metallic steel-blue oit 

 tlie ii( luriiiost mil's, anil bruadlij inari/ined around tloir tips irith piir'- ivliite : s/wrtir upper tail- 

 coverts dull i/rei/, brownish near their extremities, irith indistinct ivliitish iiiari/itis aroniid their tips, 

 the lonuer corerts of a clearer grey and. ivhitij-broiini on their tljis ; central pair of tail-feathers brmmi, 

 the remainder blackisli-hroii'ii, glossed, ivitli i/reeii, on t/ieir outer irrhs and. tipped ivith, jvhite ; head 

 grey ; long occipital jiliiims blackish, i/rri/ at the base ; chin whitish, remainder of the under surface 

 grey: side-' of the neck and breast pinkis/i-salinon colour: Jlanks and s/iorter under tail-coverts 

 ■ivashed tvith broivn : longer under tail-coverts grey, inhitish aroti/nd their tips ; hill olive-black: legs 

 and fcf't deep coral-red .- iris orange-yell mr : bare skin around the eye coral-red. Total h'nqlJi in 

 thejli'sli 12'7-'i inches, tving (J-.'), tail o'To, bill '1, tarsus (t-'J.'j. 



Adult femalk. — Similar in plumage to the male. 



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

 New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia. 



Al^JIK Crested Bronze- wing is freely distributed in favourable situations throughout the 

 -L inland portions of the greater part of the Australian Continent. During the journey 

 of the Horn Scientific Expedition in Central Australia, in 1894, Mr. G. A. Keartland procured 

 specimens at Goyder's Well and Ross's Waterhole, and they were noted at various times all 

 along the route. In the following year Mr. Keartland noted numbers of them at Mount Batts, 

 while a member of the Calvert Exploring Expedition, in North-western Australia, where 



