I'KZOPOKUS. \1'> 



there into a platform of about half an inch thick, a piece of Lycopodium also being worked into it. 

 The nest and eggs here figured were found by Mr. T. W'hitelegge, at Maroubra, about three miles 

 south-east of Sydney, in November, iSgy. It was built at the base of a thick clump of rushes 

 and Lycopodium, growing on a low hillock- in a swamp, and is formed entirely of thin dead rush 

 and fern stems, and averages externally six inches and a half, the egg cavity measuring three 

 inches and a half in diameter by three quarters of an inch m depth, and was entirely protected 

 overhead by rushes and ferns, the birds entering the nest on the side at the base of the tuft of 

 rushes. Visiting the nest on the 21st November, when quite close to it Mr. W'hitelegge 

 encountered a large Black Snake ( Psatdichis poifhyviacns ), which with some difficulty he killed. 

 On reaching the nest he found that it contained three cold and apparently deserted eggs, for no 

 birds were seen in the vicinity. Taking the eggs, a board was placed under the tuft of rushes 

 and ferns, and the whole now forms an interesting group \n the .-Vustralian Museum. 



The eggs are usually three in number for a sitting, oval or elliptical in form, pure white, 

 the shell being smooth, close-grained and more or less lustrous. .\ set of three taken at Middle 

 Harbour, Sydney, in i^^jy. measures : —Length (A) i-oj x o-Sj inches; (B) i-oi x 0-85 inches; 

 (C) i-o() X 0-63 inches. .\ set of three taken at Maroubra on the 21st November, 1897, 

 measures: — Length (A) i x 0-85 inches; (B) 1-05 x 0-82 inches; (C) roi x o-8 inches. 

 Two eggs received from Mr. E. D. .\tkinson, while resident at Table Cape, Tasmania, measure : — 

 Length (A) I-I2 X Q-y inches; (B) 1-13 x 0-9 inches. 



Young birds resemble the adults, but have not the orange band on the forehead ; the feathers, 

 too, have a yellowish shade, which is more pronounced on the upper wing-coverts, orbital 

 region, sides of the neck, throat and chest, the feathers of the latter two having one or more 

 blackish spots or cross-bars in the centre. ^\'ing 4-73 inches. 



September and the three following months constitute the usual breeding season of this 

 species. 



Specimens from Western Australia may readily be distinguished from examples procured 

 in Eastern Australia, by the broken barrings on the under surface, the centre of the lower 

 breast and abdomen being yellow. This is very pronounced in adult specimens in the Australian 

 Museum Collection, obtained by i\Ir. George Masters at King George's Sound, Western 

 Australia, in 1866 and 1868. I purpose to distinguish this form from Western .-Vustralia under 

 the name of Pezoporiis Jiaviventi'is. 



