I'dr.KlMMN AS. 217 



were IoiukI, straiiu'e to say lui broken. ()nthe second ocuasioii a fnetici was engaji^ed upon a 

 fence in a swamp, on the banks of the 1 )erwetit, and on thr(;win,L; a post ai,'ainst a chinip of rusli 

 ( Lfpidospcnna louuitndinak) h& saw the bird flutter away, and on examination discovered the nest 

 and four ej,'^;s. I-inowing I was interested, he communicated with nie, when I made a special 

 trip and secured the nest and the ej,'f;s, which he kindly presented to me. The nest was placed 

 low down in the rush, about a foot from the ground, and was composed entirely of band-f^rass 

 (the f,'rass used tjenerally here for thatchini; and makin;,' hay-bands), and bore a [genera! 

 resemblance to that of Lewin's Water Rail. The ef^'t^s had apparently been sat upon for about 

 a week, four therefore bein;j; the full clutch in this particular instance. 1 can only presume from 

 the fact that so few of the nests and ei,'gs are discovered that the bird is comparatively rare." 



The eggs vary from four or live to seven in number for a sitting, and are an ellipse in 

 form, much rounded or blunted at each end, tlie sliell being close-grained, smooth and slightly 

 lustrous. Typically they are of a dull, pale creamy-brown ground colour, having numerous 

 indistinct fine fleecy markings of light chestnut-brown, uniformly and thickly distributed over 

 tiie surface of the shell. Some specimens have a few irregular-shaped spots and streaks of a darker 

 hue intermingled with the (leecy marlcings, predominating chielly on one end, where a small cap 

 is sometimes formed. .\n egg in the Australian Museum Collection, one of a set of seven taken 

 in December, i.SgS, by Mr. Douglas Sellcirk, at Tempe, near Sydney, New South Wales, 

 measures: — l^ength i-2 x o-tj inches. .\ set of four in Mr. Malcolm Harrison's collection, 

 taken by Mr. C. Smith in October, ityoi, below New Norfolk", on the Derwent River, South- 

 eastern Tasmania, measures : — Length (.\) 1-27 x 0-87 inches; (B) 1-25 x 0-87 inches; (C) 

 1-22 X 0-87 inches; (D) i'2i x o'.S7 inches. 



Young birds resemble the adults, but the margin of the shoulder is white, and the sides of 

 the head are paler, the chin and centre of the throat is dull white, and some of the feathers on 

 the centre of the breast are margined with white. Total length 5-3 inches, wing 2-9 inches. 



October and the three following months constitute the usual breeding season in Eastern 

 .Australia and Tasmania. 



C3-en-U.S :E=OIjIOX_pH\^I>T.^S, Sharp,: 



Poliolimnas cinereus. 



\VHl'l'i:-KYKHRu\VED WATER CK.iKE. 

 I'orphi/rin ciwr^-ns, Vieill., Nouv. Diet. dHist,, Tom. XXVIH., p. 2'.t (1819). 

 Porzana leucophi-i/1, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol. Vol. VI., pi. SI (IS4S). 

 Eri/thni qHwIrit^trhjata, Gould, Haiulbk. Bds. Au.str., V'ol. IT., p. .'^43(1805), 



PoIioHmua.'^ cinereus, Sharpe, Git. ISds, lirit. .Miis., Vol. XXIII., p 130 (lS-t9) : a/., Hand-I. Bds., 

 Vol. I., p. 104 (1899). 



AlH'L'r MALK, — Genera! caloiir almi-e olice-hrown, irilli. diirk'-r broiim centres to the feathers of 

 iJir hack, rump anil upper laU-CMverts : the upper part nf t/ie ninuth' uniform olive-brouii ; upper 

 utiiig-corerts pale olire brown, the inner greater series ivith dark hronn centres ; primaries and outer 

 secondaries brown, the outer u-eb of t.lie first primary white, tlie remainder of the secondaries dark 

 brown, margined mith pale olire-bronni .■ tuiffeatliers dark brou-n, indistiucth/ edged with olive- 

 brown ; forehead ami cronrn of the Icml dark ashy-grey, willi. small indistinct blackislt-brown centres 

 to the feathers, and passing into olire-brown on the nape ; a patch of feathers from the gape to the eye, 

 and partially encircling the fore part <f the latter in a narrow line, black, bordered above by a short 

 and below by a long streak of u'lnlr, e.rtendiug iirer the ear-corerts ; chin, centre of the upper tliroat, 

 breast, abdomen and thighs dull while ; enr-cocerts, lower throat, sides of neck and breast liglit ashy- 



