The VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



twigs and bunches of eucalyptus leaves added, and occasionally 

 some of the rushes just about the nest would be broken down 

 and bent over. Those built in the shallower water near the bank, 

 and away from the rushes, were composed almost entirely ot 

 twigs and leaves. One floating nest was noticed which was com- 

 posed entirely of water weed, the eggs being about 4 inches 

 above the level of the water ; it was away from any rushes or 

 other shelter. The number of eggs in the different nests varied 

 from five to nine. 



Several Musk Ducks, Biziara lohata, were seen, either diving 

 for their food in the deeper water or searching for Crustacea and 

 other insects among the water weeds nearer the bank. They 

 nested either on the shore in hollow logs and similar places, or 

 among the bulrushes over the water. These they bent down 

 where they were thick and matted them together at the water 

 level, sometimes adding a few more. These nests were very 

 rough, loose structures, with practically no lining, a portion of the 

 lower part being immersed in the water. The eggs are of a very 

 pale green colour, and frequently show scratches on, apparently 

 irom the feet of the bird, showing that the outer coating of green 

 is soft when the egg is first laid. 



Otlier species of birds were seen, but they had evidently 

 finished nesting, such as Black Moorhens, (hdliimla tenebrosa, 

 Marsh Terns, Hydroclielidon hybrida, &c. Our visit to the lake 

 was a most fascinating and interesting one, and we could sit for 

 hours with a strong pair of field glasses watching the antics of the 

 various birds as they disported themselves on the water. Black 

 Swans, Cygnus at.ralus, liad their floating nests among the reeds 

 and rushes, and in their immediate neighborhood they had pulled 

 ofi" the grerter portion of the tops of those plants wherewith to 

 construct their nests, and these were very bulky structures and 

 maintained my weight when I scrambled on to one. 



Bee-eaters, Merops ornalus, were noticed on the sandy rises in 

 which they nested. These birds lay about five eggs, one every 

 other day, consequently, as they are hatched in the order in which 

 they are laid, the oldest bird will be about ten days old when 

 the youngest is hatched. The illustration here shows a nestful 

 of young birds and a heavily incubated egg from one nest, and 

 it will be noticed that they are all in difterenl stages — the oldest 

 nearly fledged and the youngest in down. The burrow the parent 

 birds make is about 2 feet in depth, in a slanting direction, with 

 a small chamber at the end, but no nest is made, the pure white 

 and nearly round eggs being laid on the sand. Their food con- 

 sists largely of beetles, and the floor of the nest is generally plen- 

 tifully bestrewn with the wing-cases of these insects. 



[The paper was illustrated by a series of lantern slides. — Ed. 

 Victorian iValuralititA 



