208 UALLlll.K 



flesliy-white, and cream-brown, and totally devoid uf the beautiful linear markings that pi incipally 

 ciiaracterise the e'^'^s of the remainder of tiie Family I'lilom'vliymJiid.r. 



When Mr. W. McLennan, who was collecting' on behalf of 1 )r. W. Mac<:i;illi\ ray, of Broken 

 Hill, was passiuf,' through Sydney, on his way to Cape \'ork, I asked him to pay particular 

 attention to the subject : however, Mr. H. G. Barnard, who was collecting in the Cape York 

 District at the same time, clearly established the fact that the statements made by the late 

 Messrs. Cockerell and Thorpe were correct, and that the Red-necked Bail does lay white eggs. 

 Mr. Barnard has kindly fas'oured me with the following notes : — " Puring a trip to Cape York, 

 Northern Queensland, I noted RalUiia tricolor in the dense dry scrubs growing chiefly on the 

 sides of stony hills. The calls of tlie birds are only heard at night, and ]ndL;ing by their number 

 they are f.airly numerous. They are very shy, and when disturbed in the day lime disappear 

 like a flash. One nest, containing four pure white eggs, was found liy the bird dashing from it 

 as I waUced past. The nest, or what there was of it, was placed at the foot of a tree, .md merely 

 consisted of a hole scooped in the ground, in which a few dead leaves were placed. Being very 

 anxious to secure this bird from the nest, and knowing my only hope of doing so was to shoot 

 her while sitting on it, I took the Kail's eggs out and placed in their stead four eggs of 7 i;;n'i//'/(';-(( 

 Sylvia, which I had in my collecting bag, and retired a short distance and lay beside a tree from 

 where I commanded a view of the nest. It was ten o'clock in the morning when I took up my 

 position, but it was four o'clock' in the afternoon before the bird crept quietly on to the nest and 

 sat down. I at once lired, with the result that 1 killed the bird, and smashed the Kingfisher's 

 eggs to atoms. The date of taking this nest was the loth of January, ryi i." 



When sending me a set of Red-necked Rail's eggs on loan for description. Dr. W. 

 Macgillivray, of Broken Mill, South-western New South Wales, favoured me with the following 

 notes: — " Jialliiia tricolor puts in an appearance at Cape York, at the beginning of the wet season. 

 In igii it was first heard on the 8th January. It keeps to the thick- tropical scrub, whether 

 along the creeks or on the tops of ridges. Its call is a loud shriek', many times repeated, 

 resembling ' kare, kare, kare,' and sometimes a short sharp note like ' tock, tock, tock,' which 

 would sometimes be kept up for half an hour. Mr. X'idgen's little boy found a nest in the scrub 

 on the 3rd March, 191 2, near Paira; it \vas a mere depression in the dead leaves at the base 

 of a tree, and contained three white eggs. lie took Mr. McLennan to seethe nest and eggs, and 

 it was resolved to leave it until the full clutch was laid. However, on \isiting it again on the 

 gth, the eggs were gone, taken probably by some predatory aniiiial. ' Charlie,' a South Sea 

 Islander, working for ]\lr. Jardine of Somerset, found another nest in the scrub near the latter 

 place containing four white eggs; he did not take them, and when it was visited ten days later, 

 on the 2nd April, 1912, only one egg was lelt; this he brought to Mr. McLennan, and was 

 found to have a half developed chick in it. On the 21st January, 191 1, Mr. McLennan saw 

 some young ones with a parent bird : they appeared to be about a week" old, and were covered 

 with black down. The birds were very shy, and seldom seen during the day, even in patches 

 of scrub, in which several were heard calling during the night ; this calling usually starts at sun- 

 down, and is kept up all night. Their call note was last heard early in April. In an adult 

 male the stomach contained small snail shells." 



The eggs are five in number for a sitting, oval in form, dull white, the shell being close- 

 grained, smooth and lustrous. An egg of a set of four taken by Mr. 1>. Jardine, in January, 

 1901, measures ; — Length (A) 1-45 x 1-03 inches. A set of i]\e in Dr. \V. Macgillivray's 

 collection, taken at Cape York on the 27th February, 1913, measures : — Length (A) 1-42 x roj 

 inches; (B) f43 x i-02 inches; (C) i'43 x f02 inches ; (D) 1-39 x i-oi inches; (E) i'38 

 X foi inches. 



From i\Ir. Barnard's and Dr. Macgillivray's notes, it may be gathered that the breeding 

 season extends from lanuary to early in April. 



