130 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



tribe, and all is laziness. The success of the method depends 

 upon the mock hawks being hurled at the right moment." 



I have seen one of this species without black pigment in its 

 plumage, and with its superciliary stripe distinct. I was once 

 asked to look at a similar freak in the Grey Teal, Nettion 

 gibberifrons, S. Miill. 



When the White-fronted Heron, Ardea novce hollandice, Latham, 

 is seen round Melbourne in large numbers, as in 1897, the omen 

 is for a dry interior. The greatest flock seen by me at any time 

 numbered 57 (16/12/96); but there probably have been larger 

 ones, and the more the merrier, for they are capital vermin 

 destroyers. I have observed their capacious stomachs crammed 

 with grasshoppers, and Dr. Cobb speaks of them as fluke-eaters 

 while this animal is in its host Bulinus. Thus, this species plays 

 its part ably when the balance of nature seems disturbed. 



The remaining visitors come to us between January and May. 

 From the stomach of a White-necked Heron I extracted a fish 

 and a large freshwater crayfish. Along the river, at Ascot Vale, a 

 Black Cormorant one day sna[)ped the phantom fish (4 inches 

 long) from an angler's hand-line, and, rising on the wing, broke the 

 line. Judging by the manner of its flight, the bird was somewhat 

 surprised at its capture. 



DISCOVERY OF THE NEST AND EGG OF THE 

 SCRUB-ROBIN, DRYMA(EDUS BRUNNEOPYGIUS, 

 Gould. 

 In my manual, " Nests and Eggs" (1883), I furnished a descrip- 

 tion of an egg supposed to belong to this Scrub or Ground 

 Robin. I entertain doubts now as to its real parentage, more 

 especially as Mr. C. French, jun., has lately received an 

 authenticated specimen from our country member, Mr. J. C. 

 Goudie, Birchip. 



In October, 1898, my son Archie, while collecting with Dr. 

 Chas. Ryan and Mr. C. French, jun., procured a pair of skins 

 of this rare robin in the North-west Province of Victoria, where 

 the bird appears partial to the acacia scrubs. Early in 

 November the same season, and in the same district, Mr. Goudie 

 found one of their nests, containing a young bird, newly hatched; 

 and on the loth January following was fortunate in finding 

 another nest containing a single egg, which now becomes the 

 type, and may be thus described : — 



Eggs. — Clutch, i, probably 2 occasionally ; almost oval in 

 shape ; texture of shell, fine ; surface, glossy ; colour, light 

 greenish-grey or dirty greenish-white, spotted and blotched (in 

 confluent patches round the apex) with cinnamon-brown and 

 slate. Dimensions in inches, .98 x .74. 



Nest. — Cup-shaped, somewhat loosely constructed, composed 



