34 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



DESCRIPTIONS OF SOME AUSTRALIAN BIRDS' EGGS. 



By Alfred J. North, C.M.Z.S., Ornithologist, Australian 

 Museum, Sydney. 



Among a number of nests, eggs, and bird skins lately received 

 by the Trustees of the Australian Musuem, Mr. G. A. Keartland 

 and Mr. Chas. French, jun., of Melbourne, from the neighbour- 

 hood of the Daly River, in the Northern Territory of South 

 Australia, are the eggs of the following species : — 



Chlamydodera nuchalis, Great Bower-bird. 



A beautiful egg of this species in Mr. French's collection is a 

 pronounced elongate-oval in form, and exceeds in length any 

 Bower-bird's egg I have measured. It is of the usual pale 

 greenish-grey ground colour, and umber-brown scrolls, lines, 

 blurred streaks, and labyrinthine surface markings, but is 

 remarkable for having one near the smaller end bearing a striking 

 resemblance to a man's face. Length, 1.83 x 1.13 inches. Tiiis 

 egg, taken in January, 1902, was the only one in the nest; 

 apparently it was in an advanced state of incubation. 



Pitta iris. Rainbow Pitta. 



The eggs of this species are typically rounded oval in form, the 

 shell being close-grained, smooth, and slightly lustrous. They 

 are white, with small freckles, rounded spots, and a few larger 

 irregular-shaped blotches of inky or blackish-grey scattered over 

 the surface of the shell, intermingled with less numerous under- 

 lying markings of a lighter shade. In most specimens the larger 

 blotches are darker and unevenly distributed ; in one the 

 markings are all small and are confined to the thicker end, but 

 in none do they assume the form of a zone. A set of four, taken 

 on the I St February, 1902, measures as follows : — Length — {a), 

 1.02 X .84 inches ; (b), 1.02 x .83 inches ; (c), 1.04 x .84 inches; 

 (d), I.I x .84 inches. Another set of four taken on the following 

 day, measures — (a), 1.02 x .85 inches; (b), 1.06 x. 83 inches; (c), 

 I X .83 inches ; (d), T.03 x .85 inches. This bird builds on the 

 ground in clumps of bamboos, but the nest was too frail to 

 bear removal. A skin of a young bird was sent with these eggs 

 for identification. 



Ortygometra cinerea (Porzana leucophrys, Gould), White-eye- 

 browed Water Crake. 



Judging by the number of sets of eggs of this species I have 

 examined, it is apparently a very common bird in the Northern 

 Territory. The eggs, which vary from four to six in number for a 

 setting, are oval or rounded oval in form, the shell being close- 

 grained, smooth, and slightly lustrous. The ground colour varies 

 from a dull greenish-white to a light yellowish-clay shade, which 



