IIYDIiALECIOR, 'JoO 



sits 01) the nest. The nest is a fiat structure, and not easily detected. One nest I found at 

 Smith's Creek was nearly left hi{;h and dry, by the water recedin^^. 1 was sorry after I took the 

 ef;gs, just to see if the birds would have deserted it or not. The bulk of them may be found 

 layini,' in October, but I ha\e found their ej^^'s from October till April. Herewith are the dates 

 of some of those found : — Sth, 14th, 17th, 22nd, 27th, 2Sth, 29th (.)ctober ; 8th, gth, nth, 23rd, 

 2gth November; Sth December; 15th January; loth, 15th February; loth, 17th April. 



The figure of the nest and eggs of the Comb-crested Parra is reproduced from a photograph 

 taken by Mr. Savidge. 



I'rom Broken Hill, South-western New South Wales, f^r. W. Macgillivray sent me the 

 following notes: — " My only meeting with Ilydyalcctoi' galliuaccus was on the 5th October, 1910, 

 when I visited the Enoggera Waterworks, near Brisbane, in company with several other 

 enthusiasts. We rowed over the reservoir, many of the shallow bays and reaches of which were 

 covered with Howering water lilies. On approaching one of these a I'arra was seen to leave it, 

 and behave in a rather anxious manner, uttering her alarm note, and flitting from one part of 

 the lily-clothed surface to another. On approaching the spot from which she Hew, a nest was 

 discovered, a mere accumulation of water weeds on the surface of the water, supported not on 

 the leaves of the lily, but on the stems and other weeds which grew thickly under the surface ; 

 the nest contained four beautifully marked eggs. Crossing the reservoir another pair of birds 

 were found to have just completed a nest, near to which was a Coot's nest also floating. On 

 another lily bay a third nest of the Parra was found, also containing four eggs." 



The eggs are almost invariably four in number for a sitting, varying from oval to swollen 

 and elongated oval, and typically are much pointed at the smaller end, the shell being close- 

 grained, smooth and unusually lustrous, as if they had been \arnished or highly polished. In 

 ground colour they vary from a pale yellowish-brown to a clear pale brown, and this is more or 

 less thickly covered with a network of well defined black lines. Others look as if a pen had been 

 dipped in Indian inlc, and the shell scrawled over with labyrinthine markings, some being clear 

 and well defined, others wavy and zig-zag, and forming in places coalesced black patches. 

 Some have the ground colour almost obscured by black markings; but the most usual variety 

 found has a regular open network of black lines crossing and recrossing one another. \ set of 

 four taken by Mr. George Savidge at Copmanhurst, New South Wales, measures : — Length (A) 

 1-25 X 0-88 inches ; (B) 1-26 x 0-87 inches ; (C) 1-22 x o-88 inches; (D) 1-22 x o-88 inches. 

 Two other sets taken by Mr. Savidge in the same locality measure respectively: — No. i (A) i'i6 

 X o'85 inches ; (B) 1-17 x o'84 inches; (C) i"2 x 0-84 inches; (D) i-i8 x 0-83 inches. No. 

 2(A) i"32 X 0-84 inches, unusually elongated ; (B) i'i8 x o'86inches; (C) i'i2 x o'87 inches; 

 (D) i"22 X 0-87 inches. 



Semi-adult females somewhat resemble the adults, but have the upper tail-coverts and tail- 

 feathers of a pale bronzy-brown, like the back ; the upper wing-coverts are pale brown, having 

 whitish margins and are indistinctly mottled with sandy-rufous, and the primary-coverts dark 

 brown, margined with white at the tips ; centre of head, neck and mantle dark brown, the latter 

 slightly glossed with bronzy-green ; forehead, crown of the head and nape bright rufous, with 

 only a slight indication of the comb on the forehead; all the under surface white, the fore-neck 

 washed with golden-straw colour, more distinctly at the side, these darker feathers forming a 

 band on the chest, broken in the centre, and those on the sides of the body having dull black 

 centres. Wing 5-4 inches. 



The breeding season is variable. In Northern Australia it is usually in the wet season, 

 during the early months of the year. In Eastern Australia it is more frequently from October 

 to the end of January, and occasionally in the late summer and autumn months, from February 

 to the end of Way, although eggs are more often found in October and November. 



