232 



Collecting on l.elialf of the Trustees, the late Mr. C.eorjie ^Masters procured specimens in 

 December, 1868, at King George Sound, Western Australia, and this series has been supple- 

 mented by five adult, and one immature, birds received from the Trustees of the Western 

 Australian Museum, collected further north at Shark Bay. 



Through the Curator I have received on loan, from Mr. IJernard II. Woodward, Director 

 of the Western Australian Museum, Perth, a set of four eggs taken by Mr. Thomas Ostle, in 



(Jctober, lyoo, at Herds- 

 man Lake, abotit four 

 miles from Perth. They 

 are oval in form, some- 

 what compressed to- 

 wards the smaller end, 

 the shell being compara- 

 tively close-grained and 

 lustrous. In ground 

 ' olour they are a warm 

 ureamy pale brown, over 

 which are scattered dots, 

 spots and rounded and 

 oval blotches of pale pur- 

 plish-red, intermingled 

 with similar under-lying 

 markings of purplish- 

 greyand light inky-grey, 

 the latter colour being 

 almost obsolete; three of 

 the specimens ha\e the 

 markings fairly evenly 

 distributed, on the other 

 they predominate on the 

 lower end, and where in 

 all specimens a few light 

 olive -green markings 

 are found. Length {\) 

 j-oi X 1-46 inches; (B) 

 2'i4 X i'44 inches; (C) 

 2-09 X i'46 inches; (D) 

 2-07 X i'5 inches. The 

 accompanying figure is 

 reproduced fromaphoto- 

 graph kindly forwarded 

 at the same time by Mr. 

 Woodward. It repre- 



NEST AND K(;GS OF AZURE-BURASTEI) GALLINULE. 



sents the eggs described 

 above, and the nest from which they were taken. 



Immature birds may be distinguished by the feathers on the centre of the fore-neck and 

 upper breast being dull greyish-brown, which widens out into an elongated patch on the lower 

 breast and abdomen, the greyish-brown feathers on these parts being broadly margined at the 

 tips with whity-brown. Wing 10-4 inches. 



