The Oologists' Record, March i, 1922. 



human being. As soon as it spotted the native it stood up and, 

 with legs wide apart over the eggs, commenced turning round rapidly, 

 scratching the loose material from all sides over the eggs. To 

 cover the eggs and run off was a matter of only a few seconds and 

 was accomplished long before the native was anj^where near the 

 nest. After the native went away the bird returned to its eggs. 

 It first uncovered them, scratching the material away with its 

 feet. It then sat on them, and for some time was employed re- 

 arranging the loose stuff round the hollow with its beak. The 

 eggs are always half buried in the loose material of the nest, so that 

 a few rapid kicks are sufficient to cover them completely over. 

 I once found a nest containing two young birds a few hours old., 

 and these the old birds had covered, leaving only the heads exposed. 



I have never found a nest anywhere but in the vicinity of 

 dams, generally about 50 to 100 yards from the water and never 

 in shingle. 



M\' records for inland nests are from August 29th to November 

 5th, with one nest in January. At the coast it apparently breeds 

 much earlier, as there were a good many birds breeding on Bird 

 Island when I visited it on July loth. One nest found on that date 

 contained eggs in an advanced stage of incubation. The clutch 

 of eggs is invariably two. In shape they are usually pointed 

 ovals, pyriform eggs being rare. The ground colour varies from a 

 pale-creamy buff to a darkish-buff.. This is thickly marked with 

 streaks, short twisted lines and spots of very dark brown, evenlj' 

 scattered over the whole shell. The underlying markings consist 

 of small blotches of pale purple and are almost obsolete. The eggs 

 of this species resemble those of C. tricollaris somewhat but are 

 easily distinguished from them by the entire absence of zones and 

 the greenish colour of the skin lining the shell. 



The measurements in inches of seven clutches in m}- collection 

 are as follows : — ■ 



Five clutches taken inland. — (i) 1-25 x -87, 1-25 x -89; 

 (2) 1-2 X -84, 1-15 X -81; (3) I-2I X -85, 1-2 X -89; (4) 

 1-2 X -86, 1-25 X 87 ; (5) 1-29 X -80, 1-27 X -9. 



Two clutches taken on Bird Island, Algoa Bay : — 



(i) 1-3 X -91, 1-3 X -9. (2) 1-3 X -9, 1-35 X -9. 



It will be noticed that the Bird Island eggs are larger than the 

 inland eggs. The eggs of clutch 5 of the inland eggs are abnormally 

 large and the only eggs of this size I have ever taken. No others 

 have measured more than 1-25. 



