THR VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 15 



DESCRIPTION OF EGGS OF THE RAINBOW PITTA, 

 riTTA IRIS. 



By D. Le Souef, C.M.Z.S. 



The eggs of this interesting bird were found on the Daly River, 

 in North-Western Australia, on 24th December, 1900, and a 

 description of the parent bird sent. As is well known, this is 

 the only Pitta known in North-Western Australia, and it has a 

 wide range, extending from Cape York, Queensland, right across 

 to the north-west coast, inhabiting the thick scrubby country of 

 the coastal districts. The nest was situated, as usual, on the 

 ground, and contained four eggs — the full clutch. They are very 

 blunted at the smaller end, and nearly round in shape ; the tex- 

 ture of the shell is fine and somewhat glossy, and white in colour, 

 with a few roundish small blackish markings, mostly on the larger 

 end, where they form an irregular zone ; but some have the 

 markings more scattered over the egg than others. The few mark- 

 ings beneath the surface are purplish-grey. The measurements 

 are :— (a) .91 x .80 inch, (6) .92 x .79 inch, (c) .93 x .81 inch, 

 {d) .93 x .80 inch. 



BOOK NOTICE. 



Handbook of the Destructive Insects of Victoria. Part 

 iii. By C. French, F.L.S., Entomologist to the Department 

 of Agriculture, Victoria. Melbourne, 1900. Price, 2s. 6d. 

 After a lapse of seven years, for which the author is not 

 responsible, we have to record the publication of the third part of 

 the " Handbook of the Destructive Insects of Victoria." Where 

 there is so much to be done in tiie way of spreading information as 

 to the best means of coping with the insect pests so destructive to 

 our fruit and grain crops, it is greatly to be regretted that the 

 Department of Agriculture lias not sufficient funds at its disposal 

 to issue these excellent handbooks at much shorter intervals. The 

 part under notice contains twenty-nine chapters, twenty of which 

 are descriptive of insects, while eight are devoted to descriptions of 

 our most useful insectivorous birds — a valuable addition in sucli a 

 book. The birds dealt with are the White-eyebrowed Wood- 

 Swallow, the ^Vhite-rumped Wood-Swallow, the Narrow-billed 

 Bronze Cuckoo, tlie Pallid Cuckoo, the Restless Fly-catcher, the 

 White-sliafted Fan-tail, the Brown Tree-creeper, and the White- 

 throated Tree-creei)er. In order that there may be no mistake on 

 the part of agriculturists and fruit-growers as to their feathered 

 friends or foes, each bird is illustrated by a coloured plate. Among 

 the insects dealt with are the common Victorian Locust, of which a 

 full account of its life-history, together witli illustrations of its own 

 parasitic destructors, is given ; the dreaded Son Jose Scale ; the 

 Cut-worm Moths; the Phytomyza Leaf Tunneller; and the Painted 

 Aj^ple Moth. Other insects figured, such as the Gum Emperor 



