IIALLISULA. 



The accoiiipanyinL,' li,;,'ure of the nest and egj;s of the Dusky Moor Hen, is lepioduced from 

 a photoi^raph taken in Decembei, i.joi, fiy Mr. Ceorge Savidge, in a patch of Illady grass on a 

 bank of the Clarence River, about one mile lielow tlie wharf at Copmanhurst. 



The eggs are five to seven, occasionally ten, in number for a sitting, the latter probably the 



result of two females laying 

 in the same nest, oval in 

 lorm, some specimens 

 being slightly compressed 

 towards the smaller end, 

 the shell being compara- 

 ti\ely close-grained and 

 slightly lustrous. They 

 vary in ground colour from 

 pale creamy-brown to a 

 brownish-white or putty 

 colour, over which is dis- 

 tributed dots and irregular- 

 shaped spots and blotches 

 ol dull reddish-brown and 

 purplish -brown, inter- 

 mingled with similar but 

 lewer underlying markings 

 of faint purplish-brown and 

 inlcy-grey; in some speci- 

 mens the two surface 

 colours partially overlie 

 one another. Another type 

 has the ground colour 

 evenly marked all over with 

 small roundish or oval 

 spots of purplish-brown 

 and dull violet-grey, the 

 latter colour appearing as 

 if beneath the surface of 

 the shell. A set of five in 

 the Australian Museum 

 Collection, taken by Mr. 

 George Savidge near Cop- 

 manhurst. New South 

 Wales, measures: — Length 



(A) 2-17 X 1-43 inches; 



(B) 2-1 X I -45 inches; (C) 

 2-07 X 1-47 inches; (D) 2-1 

 X 1-49 inches; (E) 2-07 

 X 1-49 inches. A set of 



nine, taken by Mr. Charles French, Junr., Acting Government Entomologist of Victoria, on 

 the 30th January, 1899, near Prince's Bridge, Melbourne, Victoria, measures; — Length (A) 



NB.ST AND K(.:(.;.S OF THE DUSKV MOOK-llUN. 



2-i8 X 1-37 inches; (B) 2-15 x i-4 inches; (C) 2-15 x 1-38 inches; (D) 



1-35 inches; 



(E) 2-07 X i'3.S inches; (F) 2-12 x i-3S inches; (G) 1-98 x 1-33 inches ; (H) 2 x i-33inches; 



