320 LAKIIl.K. 



\aries from a faint yellowisli-stone colour to a creamy-lnilf, li^ht reddisli-luill and pale brown, 



but the former is by far the most common type ; over the fjround colour is distributed auLjular 



lines, streaks and blurs, as if one had dipped a pen in black or brownish-black ink, and had 



uniformly scribbled over the entire surface of the shell, with which are intermingled similar but 



fewer underlying markings of brownish-black- ; others have these irregular angular streaks and 



lines broader, as if they had been put on with a quill pen, many of them being penumbral ; 



umber-brown at the sides and black in the centre, and often irregular ill-shaped figures, spots 



and small blotches intermingled with them. A fairly common type is boldly spotted and blotched 



with rich umber-brown and brownish-black, with tlie usual fainter underlying markings of inky 



or bluish-grey. A rater type has a dull white ground colour, many of the outer spots and 



blotches being confluent, forming large coalesced patches, over which is sparingly sprinkled 



rounded dots, spots and small blotches of brownish-black, or thickly covered all over with 



numerous pepper and salt markings of light brownish-black, with which are intermingled here 



and there a few light larger markings of the same hue, as if they had been placed on with the tip 



of a linger after it had been dipped in half-dried colour. In strong contrast to the latter are 



specimens with large penumbral patches of reddish-black, confined principally to the larger end. 



Others are of a pale brown ground colour, thickly covered with smudgy blotches and streaks of 



blackish-brown, or of a creamy-buff, which is almost obscured by penumbral spots and blotches 



of rich umber-brown, while on some the markings consist entirely of well defined blackish-brown 



lines, resembling in character Egyptian or Arabic hieroglyphics. There is practically no limit 



to the endless variety in colour and markings on the eggs of this species, but those described are 



of the types most usually found. Specimens may have only a few large markings on one end, 



or they may be so thickly disposed as to almost obscure the ground colour. Six eggs in the 



Australian Museum Collection, taken on Thursday Island, in Torres Strait, off the coast of 



Queensland, measure :— Length (A) 2-47 x 1-65 inches; (B) 2-44 x i-66 inches; (C) 2-38 x 



1-59 inches; (D) 2-32 x 1-64 inches; (E)2-25 x 172 inches; (F) 2-35 x 1-64 inches. Three 



eggs taken on Cook Island, near the Tweed River Meads, in September, 1.S90, measure : — Length 



(A) 2-34 X 1-6 inches; (B) 2'35 x 1-63 inches; (C) 2-33 x 1-58 inches. An egg in Mr. Thos. 



P. Austin's collection, taken on Montague Island on the 24th October, 1907, is of a dusky-stone 



ground colour, with streaks and irregular-shaped short wavy lines of blackish-brown and similar 



underlying markings of inky-grey ; it measures: — Length 2-19 x 1-57 inches. Another egg 



taken in the same locality is a lengthened oval in form, of a dusky-grey ground colour, with the 



usual irregular-shaped spots and streaks of blackish-brown, unevenly distributed over the shell. 



Length 2-5 x 1-53 inches. Four eggs taken by Mr. W. McLennan on the nth November, 1910, 



on Mid Rock, Torres Strait, North Australia, measure as follow : — Length (A) 2-26 x i-6 



inches; (B) 2-39 x 173 inches; (C) 2-27 x i-68 inches; (I)) 2-43 x 1-65 inches; (E) 2-27 x 



1-63 inches. Two eggs received from Mr. E. D. Atkinson, and taken by Mr. Collis in September, 



1886, on Flinders Island, Bass Strait, measure :— Length (A) 2-26 x i-^h inches; (B) 2-3 x 



1-52 inches. Two eggs taken on the same island by Mr. Atkinson on the 3rd November, 1890, 



ineasure ; — Length (A) 2-2 x 1-55 inches; (B) 2-18 x 1-5 inches. 



In Eastern and Southern Australia, the islands of Bass Strait and Tasmania, the 

 normal breeding season is from October until the end of January. It is remarkable that on 

 Cook and iMontague Islands, off the New South Wales coast, October is the usual month for 

 obtaining eggs, while off the Northern Queensland coast and the Islands of IJass Strait and 

 contiguous to Tasmania it is about a month later. Gould states, however, that the late Mr. 

 J. MacGillivray found it breeding on Lizard Island in the beginning of May, and on Kaine Islet 

 in June, when both eggs and young birds were procured. In North-western .Australia Mr. Tom 

 Carter procured eggs on the 26th April. 



