344 ,EGOTHELIN.«. 



Stomachs, which are thick and muscular, of specimens examined contained only the remains 

 of insects, and although obtained in widely separated localities, all were alike, heads, legs, thorax 

 and wing-cases of various species of small black beetles. 



Mr. G. A. Keartland sends me the following notes :— " I have found .-Egotheks novce-hollandia 

 near Melbourne and in almost every place I have visited between that city and the Fitzroy 

 River, North-western Australia. Its variation in colour is almost as extensive as its range. 

 One bird I shot at Clayton, Victoria, had a perfectly white breast and steel-grey head and back, 

 whilst another seen on Brookman Creek, in North-western Australia, was as black as soot. The 

 majority of these birds, however, are dark grey with a brownish tinge on the upper parts. While 

 lying under a verandah near the junction of the Fitzroy and Margaret Rivers, North-western 

 Australia, I saw many of these Nightjars flying under the roof, or skimming past like Swallows, 

 in pursuit of insects. Occasionally birds of a rufous-cinnamon colour are found near the Fitzroy 

 River, but whether they are referable to a new species or not requires further investigation." 



Dr. A. M. Morgan has kindly forwarded me the following notes : — " .-Egothehs novcB-hoUandice 

 was formerly a fairly common bird in the neighbourhood of Adelaide, but I have not seen one 

 now for many years. I found it nesting at the Finniss about eight years ago in the hollow 

 log of a brush fence, and I have several times disturbed the birds from hollows in the scrub 

 there, when tapping the trunk to see what would come out. They were also evenly distributed 

 at Laura, but I did not find them nesting there. At Mount Gunson they were very common, 

 and rather shy, as they almost invariably left their hollow before I got to the tree, and sometimes 

 I have had four or five of them flying in front of me down the bed of a gum creek which I was 

 working. I found two nests in the Mount Gunson district ; the first in a hollow myall, about 

 four feet from the ground, containing two young birds and an egg just chipped by the chick ; the 

 old bird was very reluctant to leave the nest, she puffed out her feathers and opened her beak, 

 making a faint hissing noise ; finally I had to forcibly remove her. The chicks were covered 

 with a thick white down, and the eyes were not open ; they were very active, and ran over and 

 under the old bird like mice. The nest was made of the broad-leaved mulga and the leaves of 

 a shrub locally known as " wattle-bush." The second nest was made in the hollow of a gum 

 stump in Yeltacowie Creek, and contained three heavily incubated eggs ; the opening of the 

 hollow was twelve feet from the ground, and the nest was formed of similar materials as the last. 

 F"orty yards away I found a nesting-place of the Elegant Grass Parrakeet ( Euphema elegans) 

 containing five eggs of that species and a sterile egg of .Egothehs novce-hoUandiar. I did not see 

 an example of the latter in the Gawler Ranges." 



From Broome Hill, in South-western Australia, Mr. Tom Carter writes as follows: — 

 " Egothehs nova-hoUandia occurs sparingly in crevices of the clirt^s at the North-west Cape, and 

 in hollow gum spouts inland. It appears to be rather plentiful in the hollows of trees about 

 Broome Hill, but difficult to procure. I constantly hear their querulous complaining note in the 

 daytime, but have only once seen one in daylight, when it had its head protruding from a hollow 

 spout, evidently extremely indignant at a pair of Glossopsittacus porphyroccphalus which, being busy 

 hunting for a nesting site, had disturbed the occupant." 



From Copmanhurst, on the Upper Clarence River, New South Wales, Mr. George Savidge 

 writes: — " ^Egothehs nova-hollandia: is common here; frequently these birds would come out of a 

 hollow limb on a wet day and call at intervals. The eggs, three in number for a sitting, are 

 deposited in a hollow branch, and usually on a layer of opossum fur." 



From Cobborah Station, Cobbora, New South Wales, Mr. Thos. P. Austin writes me as 

 follows: — "This nocturnal species (/Egothdes iiova-hollandiae) appears to be fairly plentiful 

 throughout this district. Some of these birds are very easily disturbed from their roosting or 

 hiding hollows, but others cannot be persuaded to leave their home unless the very bough in 

 which they are is hit with a stick or something of that sort. I have often seen them fly 



