SYN(ECUS. EXCALFACTORIA. 47 



Gould, Handb. B. Austr. ii. p. 193 (1865) ; Camphdl, Nests 8r Er/gs 

 Austr. Birds, p. 'A (1883) ; North, Nests ^- E(j(/s Austr. Birds, p. 289 

 (1889). 

 Synoecus australis, Grant, Cat. Birds B. M. xxii. p. 247 (1893) ; SJtarpe, 

 Hand-l. i. p. 31 (1899). 



The eggs of the Australian Swamp-Quail vary much in size and 

 colour, and no two clutches resemble each other. They are nor- 

 mally broad ovals, with one end much pointed. Some are white, 

 occasionally marked with a few very tiny dark scattered dots ; 

 others are creamy white, some thickly, some sparingly, freckled and 

 occasionally blotched icith pale grey ; others again are a dull pale 

 stone-colour or greenish white, much speckled with rufous or brown. 

 A specimen from Tasmania is of this latter character, being of a pale 

 stone-colour with very numerous dots all over the shell, but it is 

 fully twice the size of any other egg of this species in the Collec- 

 tion. The following are the average dimensions of the eggs of this 

 bird from various localities : 



Port Essington 1'15 by '9 



Moreton Bay 1-3 by -95 



Tasmania 1-45 by 1'05. 



1. Australia {Capt. Stanley). Voy. II.M.S. 'Rattlesnake.' 

 8. Australia. Gould Cull. 



2. Australia. Gould Coll. 



1. Baudin Island, N. W. Australia, July. Lieut. G. Oliver [P.]. 



6. New South Wales. Gould Coll. 



C. Port Essingtou. Gould Coll. 



3. Port Essington. Gould Coll. 

 6. Moreton Bay. Gould Coll. 

 1. Tasmania. Gould Coll. 



Synoecus raalteni {Midi. Sf ScMeg.). 

 (Plate IV. fig. 1.) 



Syncecus raalteni, Grant, Cat. Birds B. M. xxii. p. 249 (1893) ; Sharjje, 

 Hand-l. i. p. 31 (1899). 



The eggs of Raalten's Swamp-Quail are broad ovals, pointed at 

 one end and approaching the pyriform. The ground-colour is of a 

 ])alc cream- or stone-colour, and this is thickly sprinkled over with 

 minute pale rufous dots and specks, very evenly distributed over 

 the shell. The four specimens in the Collection measure respec- 

 tively : 1-OS by -9 ; 1-1 by -89 ; 1-07 by -89 ; I-l by -87. 



• 4. Alor Island, Moluccas, 18th April. A. H. Everett, Esq. [P.]. 



Genus EXCALFACTORIA, Bp. 

 Excalfactoria chinensis {Linn.). 



Excalfactoria chinensis, Sirinhoc, Ibis, 1863, p. .398; Hume ^- Marsh. 

 Game Birds Lid. ii. p. 161 (1879) ; iii. App. pi. iii. (1880) ; Oates od. 

 Hume, Nests i.V Et/;/s Ind. B. iii. ]>. 448 (1890) ; Grant, Cat. Birds 

 B. M. xxii. p. 260 (1893) : Oates, Game Birds Ind. i. p. 9o (1898) ; 

 Shar2)e, Hand-l. i. p. 32 (1899). 



