MENURA. :U5 



Territory of South Australia, with the collector, Mr. J. T. Tunney's note, " Caught in the 

 jungles; more plentiful in the jungles near the coast ; scarce up the river." 



From Mr. J. H. Niemann the Trustees of the Australian Museum have received the eggs 

 of this species, also a fledgeling, together with the following note :—" Pitta iris inhabits the 

 dense bamboo jungles near the Daly River, in the Northern Territory of South Australia, and 

 is very difficult to secure. They build in those places on the ground, or in a clump of bamboos, 

 but their nests, formed entirely of dead strips of bamboo leaves and plant sheaths, are so loosely 

 placed together that they will not bear removal. They breed in the early months of the year 

 during the wet season." 



The eggs are four in number for a sitting, and vary from a rounded oval to almost globular 

 in form, the shell being close-grained, smooth and lustrous. They are of a dull white ground 

 colour, which is dotted, spotted and sparingly blotched with sepia and underlying markings of 

 inky-grey, the dots and spots usually being rounded in form, and the blotches often of irregular 

 shape. In some specimens the markings are uniformly distributed over the shell ; in others 

 they predominate or are confined to the thicker end, but do not assume the form even of an 

 irregular zone. A set of four taken on the ist February, 1902, measure as follows : — Length (A) 

 I-02 X 0-84 inches ; (B) i-oi x 0-84 inches ; (C) 1-05 x 0-82 mches; (D) i x 0-84 inches. 

 A set of four taken on the 2nd February, 1902, measure: — Length (A) i-i x 0-83 inches; (B) 

 i-o8 X 0-84 inches ; (C) i-o8 x 0-82 inches; (D) i-i x 0-82 inches. Of a set of four in Mr. 

 Charles French's, junr., collection, taken on the 15th February, three are white and have 

 numerous freckles, smears and large blotches of pale claret-brown, intermingled with a few spots 

 and blotches of inky and violet-grey, which predominate on the thicker end ; the remaining one 

 has small irregular shaped spots of slaty-black, intermingled with underlying markings of dull 

 lilac -grey, and looks as if it belonged to another set. Length (A) 0-99 x 0-87 inches; (6)1-03 

 X 0-87 inches; (C) i x o-88 inches; (D) 1-03 x o-88 inches. 



The fledgeling received from Mr. Niemann resembles the adult, but is everywhere very 

 much duller in colour, there is only a very slight indication of the chestnut-brown superciliary 

 stripe, and the dull black feathers on the chin and throat have whitish tips. Wing 3-1 inches. 

 There is also a fledgeling in the Australian Museum collection in almost the same stage of plumage, 

 obtained by the late Mr. Alexander Morton at Fort Essington on the 14th February, 1897. 



Judging by the dates supplied with a number of sets of eggs I have examined, the 

 breeding season of the Rainbow Pitta commences early in January, and continues the two 

 following months. 



Family MENURID^. 

 Menura superba. 



LYRE-BIRD. 

 Menura superba, Davies, Trans. Linn. Soc, Vol. VL, p. 207, pi. 22 (1800); Gould, Bds. Austr., 



fol. Vol. IIL, pi. U (1848) ; id., Hand-bk. Bds. Austr., Vol. I., p. 298 (1865) ; Sharpe, Cat. 



Bds. Brit. Mas., Vol. XIII., p. 661 (1890); id., Hand-1. Bds., Vol. III., p. 3 (1901). 

 Adult male— (?eitero? colour above brown, washed with ashy-browiL vii the hind neck and ntinp ; 

 primaries blackish on their inner webs, brotvn on their outer webs; secondaries rufous-brown; upper 

 tail-coverts washed with reddish-brown; head and neck dark slaty-brown, the feathers on the crown 

 of the head elongated and forming a slight crest; throat rufous; remainder of the under surface 

 pale ashy-brown, lighter on the abdomen; upper surface of the tail blackisJi^brotvn ; under surface 

 silvery-grey, two centre tail-feathers brown, webbed only on their outer edge and crossing each other, the 

 next six feathers on either side liaving long lateral filaments, varying from four to six inches in length, 



