I'ODICIPKS. 



385 



out to for the nest of the Black-tailed Native Hen in October, igio. I had ^reat difiiculty in 

 talcing this photograph, as you can imagine, in water up to niy armpits. 



Mr. Tom Carter wrote as follows from Bruume Hill, South-western .Australia :—" The 

 Black-throated (irebe { i'odicipci iioi\r-]iollandi.c ) occurred in North-western Australia, and was 

 commoner than Podutpa iiator. At Broome Hill it is a regular visitor, and breeds every year 

 on my stock tanks. The earliest date of arrival here is the i jth July, 1908, and on the Kith 

 .\ugust, u)o8, a pair of birds had a nest containing eggs. The 2.Sth October is the latest 

 date on which I have observed eggs in the nest. On 5th September, igio, I observed a nest 

 containing eggs attached to a wire-netting fence, stretched across a stock tank", f )n the 14th 

 September I waded out to it, but found (jnly one egg, apparently deserted. On 20th September 

 the same pair of birds had built another nest, about twenty yards further along the netting, and 



NK-ST .\ND El. US OF lif.AClv Til liUA rKI) CUKI^E. 



this contained three eggs, which hatched out on 13th October, 1910, making the period of 

 incubation twenty-three days. The adult birds leave the pools before the immature ones. The 

 22nd December is the latest date on which I have seen any here." 



Writing from Coomooboolaroo, Duaringa, Queensland, Mr. H. G. H. Barnard remarks: — 

 " On the 3rd March, 1893, I found a nest of Podiiipes jiova'-Itiillaiidi.r containing seven fresh eggs. 

 I have never tak-en more than four from any nest before." 



In New South Wales I toolc its nests and eggs in the swamp on Grafton Common, 

 in November, 1898, and saw Mr. Thos. .\ustin take a nest of three eggs at Cobborah Station in 

 October, 1910. Near Sydney it occurs in the dams of Centennial Park and ISotany Water 

 Reserve, and in Manly and Narrabeen Lagoons. 



The nest is irregularly formed of a mass of various aquatic plants, is usually only a 

 few inches above the surface of the water, and is attached to several reeds, or to the twigs 

 S7 



