KUPOIiOTIS. 



M5 



hood of Broome Hili. Since I came here, six years a-o, I have only twice seen them in my 

 paddocks and twice flying' overiiead, but know of three birds havin.^' been shot near here. 

 At I'oint Cloates I noticed that when there is a pair of yoiins, there is a great difference in their 

 size, probaidy one beinj; a male and the other a female. The young birds in down, 1 brou-ht 

 home more than once, hoping to rear them, all died in a few days." 



Usually only one egg is laid, on the bare ground, but not infre-iuently two are deposited for 

 a sitting. Typically they are oval in form, but swollen ovals are not uncommon, and they vary 

 to an elongate-ellipse, which is more rarely found, th^- shell being comparatively close-grained 

 and more or less lustrous. They vary in ground colour from a light olive-brown to a liglU olive- 

 green, over which is distributed irregular-shaped spots, blotches, smears and lon'gitudinal 

 streaks of olive-brown, in some specimens the markings are evenly distributed over the shell, on 

 others just the reverse, but as a rule they are more numerous on the larger ends of oval specimens, 

 where they are often darker and assume the form of an irregular cap. Frequently the markings 

 are fleecy and indistinct on those of a pale olive ground colour, and are only of a slightly darker 

 hue; the olive-brown spots, smears, blotches and clouded patches are usually more conspicuous 

 on the eggs of alight olive-green ground colour. A rare variety is of a pale sky-blue ground 

 with faint markings of olive-brown. Four single sets in the Australian Museum Collection 

 measure as follows :— Length (A) 3-2 x 2-2 inches; (B) 3-11 x 2-07 inches; (C) 3-25 x 

 2-22 inches; (D) yiS x 2'25 inches. .•\ set of two taken on the 9th November, 1SS4, 

 by the late Mr. K. H. Bennett, at Mossgiel, in South-western New South Wales, measures :— 

 Length (A) 3-11 x 2t8 inches; (B) 3-08 x 2-27 inches. Another set of two taken on the 17th 

 September, 1884, in the same locality, measures :— Length (A) 3-18 x 2-11 inches; (B) yi x 

 2-09 inches. Two single egg sets, entirely differmg in shape, taken during September, 1898, at 

 Gurley, about midway been Narrabri and Moree, measure respectively :— Length (A) an ellipse 

 3-21 X 2'i inches; (B) swollen-oval 3-07 x 2-^ inches. 



The young leave the nesting-place soon after they are hatched, if threatened by danger, 

 relying upon the prcjtective colour of their mottled brown and black covering of down to escape 

 detection. 



In Eastern Australia the usual breeding season is from July to December, odd nests, 

 however, have been found in New South Wales in March and May. 



