106 TfiB VidTORlAN NATURALlSt. 



During my visit to Melbourne last month I had the pleasure of 

 examining many rare and beautiful eggs in the collections of 

 various members of the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria. 

 None, however, probably possess greater attractions for Australian 

 oologists, or are more worthy of notice, than the eggs of the 

 different species of the genus Chlamydodera, and it is through 

 the courtesy of Mr. Charles French, F.L.S., the Government 

 Entomologist of Victoria, that I have been permitted to describe 

 and figure a set of the eggs of C orientalis that now grace his 

 son's collection. These eggs, two in number, were taken by 

 one of Mr. French's collectors near the Gregory Range, in the 

 Gulf District of Northern Queensland, during the month of 

 August, 1895. Similar specimens, obtained from different 

 nests in the same locality, were also exhibited by Mr. Charles 

 French, jun., at the August meeting of the Club. As there are 

 many members, like myself, who are unable to be present at the 

 monthly meetings, I trust that the following descriptions and 

 figures of the eggs of the Eastern Lilac-naped Bower Bird may 

 prove of interest. 



The eggs of Chlamydodera orientalis closely resemble those of 

 C. macidata, but are larger and more swollen in form. One 

 specimen is of a faint greenish-grey ground colour, with bold 

 linear markings and numerous wavy thread-like lines of different 

 shades of umber-brown and purplish-grey, crossing and recrossing 

 each other at different angles, and intermingled with curved wavy 

 lines and faint irregular-shaped smears. These markings are 

 equally distributed over the surface of the shell, except on the 

 thicker end, where on one side there are only a few hair-like streaks. 

 Many curious forms are assumed by these labryinthine markings, 

 one towards the centre of the egg resembling a man's face, near it 

 one like a shield, another a Maltese cross, and one on the larger 

 end the figure 8. The other specimen is of a yellowish-stone 

 ground colour, and the linear markings are less conspicuous, being 

 intermingled with small irregularly-shaped confluent blotches of 

 light umber-brown and a few clouded sub-surface markings of faint 

 purplish-grey ; on the larger end are two blackish-brown 

 linear markings, terminating in a spot at one end of each 

 line. The texture of the shell is very fine, and the surface 

 of the latter specimen has a fine gloss on it ; the other egg, 

 although smooth, is almost devoid of lustre. One of the eggs 

 exhibited by Mr. French, jun., and at present in the collection of 

 our enthusiastic member, Mr. G. A. Keartland, is slightly larger 

 than the specimens here figured, and the markings on it consist 

 principally of irregularly-shaped blotches and thick, short, wavy 

 streaks of ochraceous and purplish brown on a fine network of 

 zig-zag hair-like lines. In all the specimens examined the umber- 

 brown markings predominate, and most of the purplish-grey 



