210 RALLII).«. 



or eaten by lizards it is difficult to say. The younp; birds are jet black, and though very much 

 smaller when hatched, are like farm-yard chickens, and make a noise inuch the same. When 

 out ridini; I once came upon a pair of birds with a whole clutch, that had e\'idently just left the 

 nest. I caught nine of them, and put them in my pocket ; there were several more out of sight 

 in the grass; the mother got into a great state, and came within three feet of me, uttering all 

 the while a sound something like ' chuc' The male bird would not come near, though 1 saw 

 him a couple of times. In rainy weather these birds are often heard uttering their loud rather 

 mournful calls. Their food consists chiefly of grasshoppers, water insects, beetles, etc." 



From liroken Mill, in South-western New South Wales, I'r. W. Macgillivray has sent me 

 the following notes: — " Diuuig the igio-ii wet season at Cape York', North Queensland, very 

 few Aiiiiuiioniis niohwcaud were noted. They arrived in numbers late in January, 1912, after this 

 they were to be heard every night, the calling being kept up until early morning, when it ceased 

 for the day, to commence again at sundown. They usually frequent a very long and dense 

 growth of grass, reeds and Paiidanus, making a search for their nests a difficult matter. 

 Mr. McLennan noted one bird calling persistently in a paddock of wild mint, growing to a 

 height of six feet and very thick, and resolved to make a systematic search for the nest on the 

 1st April, 1912, and made the following note : — ' I went down to the bull paddock, to where I 

 heard Amaurornis moliicrana calling, and began my search. To start with I parted a strip twenty- 

 five to thirty feet long, and about ten feet from where the bird was calhng, and worked to and 

 fro along the line till a patch of about thirty feet scjuare had been completed. After a rest 

 the search was recommenced, and the nest found; it contained three fresh eggs; no birds had 

 been seen, so I cut a narrow track from the nest to a spot about tw'elve feet away, and sat there 

 and waited for the bird to return. I sat there for nearly five hours, but no bird appeared, though 

 I heard it call once about twenty feet away. After this I went away and paid three surprise 

 visits to the nest, but did not see the bird. I went again at sundown, and sat in the old spot. 

 I had not been there long when I heard the birds calling about fifty yards away ; they appeared 

 to be heading for the nest. In a short time I saw the tips of the mint shaking near the nest and 

 at last the bird hopped on to it ; I pulled the trigger, and gathered up the remains just about 

 dark. The nest was four inches from the ground, placed amongst stalks of wild mint three feet 

 high ; it was roughly constructed of pieces of dry and green mint, and dry twigs of Syiii/atiii'd, 

 the twigs and pieces being about four inches long. It was nine inches across by five inches in 

 depth externally, egg chamber four and a half inches in diameter by two and a half inches deep. 

 The three eggs are sent for e.xamination. An average male bird measures in the flesh 11 inches 

 from tip of bill to end of tail and 15.', inches from tip of bill to end of toes." 



The eggs are usually li\e or si.x, sometimes only four, in number for a sitting, varying from 

 an oval to ellipse in form, some specimens, even in the same set, being more swollen than others 

 and tapering off suddenly to either end. They are white, or a very faint creamy-white in ground 

 colour, which is dotted, spotted and linely blotched with irregular-shaped markings of pale 

 purplish-red and purplish-grey, intermingled with similar underlying markings of various shades 

 of \ iolet-grey, in some specimens fairly evenly distributed over the surface of the shell, in others 

 they predominate and become confluent, forming a cap on one end, where the markings are 

 larger. In one specimen in a set now before me the markings are very much smaller, and more 

 sparingly distributed over the shell. Figs. 3, 4, ;"> and 6 of Plate B. XII. are all referrable to 

 this species. A set of four in the Australian Museuin Collection, taken near the Herbert River, 

 North-eastern Oueensland, measures: — Length (A) i-^ x 1-07 inches; (B) 1-62 x 1-05 inches; 

 (C) i'56 X 1-07 inches; (D) i-56 x 1-09 inches. A set of four heavily incubated eggs, taken 

 by Mr. J. A. Boyd on the 2nd February, 1894, at Ripple Creek, in the same district, measures : — 

 Length (A) 1-65 x 1-13 inches; (B) i-6 x i-ii inches; (C) 1-48 x rif) inches; (D) 1-52 x 

 1-15 inches. .\ set of seven taken by Mr. Bertie Hislop, near the Bloomlield River, on the loth 



