212 



SPOTTED WATER CRAKE. 



Many of the smaller swamps are drained and vegetable gardens llouribU in their stead. Tram 

 lines also intersect these parts, and what were a few years ago sand-hills co\ered with heath 



or a low dense undergrowth, are now cut up into 

 building allotments, the streets outlined, and 

 houses dotted here ami there. Among the 

 specimens in the Australian Museum Collection 

 are exaniplesobtained by Lieutenant Goldfinch, 

 R.X., at Newtown, and the late Mr. J. A. 

 Thorpe, at Narrabeen Lake and Appin. Dr. 

 K. I'. Ramsay also obtained a specimen at 

 Macquarie Fields. This bird is remarkably 

 shy, and is seldom seen. When going up the 

 Uerwent River, in South-eastern Tasmania, I 

 had the famous haunt and breeding ground of 

 this and many other species pointed out to me 

 near Bridgewater. 

 Mr. G. A. Keartland sent me the following notes from Melbourne, X'ictoria : — " The Spotted 

 Water Crake (Pov':ana Jliintinca) is rare in \'ictoria, and the few 1 have shot were secured in the 

 Ringwood District, .\lthough I saw them running in front ol my Pointer dog several times 1 

 could not flush them until 1 obtained the help of a Fox-terrier, which chased and made them ily. 

 I have heard of their eggs being found in the district." 



From South Australia Dr. A. M. Morgan wrote: — " 1 found a dead bird, I'orzaiia Jhnniucti, 

 on the golf links. It is the first time I ha\e seen it about Adelaide, though i\ pnlmtiis is fairly 

 common and nests in suitable places." 



From Hobart, Tasmania, Mr. Malcolm Harrison wrote: — " Ffli-zaiia JJiiminca appears to be 

 very local in its habits. Where it occurs several pairs may nest within a comparatively confined 

 space, whilst outside a small radius not a bird is to be found. ( )ne such spot I laiew of which 

 these birds frequented, and they bred there for years, but the march of civilization and consequent 

 destruction of cover, and the introduction of the domestic cat, have all conduced to the inevitable 

 result, as in the case of Lewin's Rail, and the locality knows them no more. The flight of 

 Forzana Jlimiinca is laboured, but on one or two occasions when Hushed 1 have seen a bird make 

 a more ambitious flight before tumbling into cover than 1 have ever observed in Lewin's Rail. 

 This bird as a rule nests fairly close to the ground, in a clump of rushes frequently surrounded 

 by shallow water, and I have found sets of eggs completely incrusted with mud carried up on 

 the bird's feet, to such an extent indeed that not the faintest trace of the shell could be seen. 

 The usual set, as with most of the Crakes and Rails here, is (we, occasionally four, and less 

 frequently six being laid. The markingsof various sets vary considerably, some being uniformly 

 spotted all ox'er, without the slightest tendency to confluence, whilst others again are hea\ ily 

 blotched on the larger end. It is rarely that both \arieties are seen in the same set." 



The nest is an open structure, usually formed of coarse grasses and rush libre, and is built 

 at the base of a tussock of high grass or reeds, low bushes, etc., growing in or surrounded 

 by water. 



The eggs are usually five, occasionally four, and sometimes six in number for a sitting, and 

 vary from oval to rounded and elongate oval in form, the shell being close-grained, smooth and 

 lustrous, although some sets I have seen were lustreless. Typically they are of a pale stone- 

 brown ground colour tinged with olive, in some light greenish-olive, which is freckled, and 

 having irregular-shaped spots and small blotches of different shades of purplish-brown and 

 purplish-grey, the latter colour frequently appearing as if beneath the surface of the shell. Some 

 specimens are fairly evenly marked all over, in others they predominate on the larger end, where, 



