PHALACItOI'OKAX. 335 



inches long, and Others twelve inches in length. These, with other fish matter lying about the 

 nests, are removed every day by scavengers in the form of a host of Silver Gulls, who seem to 

 be just as much at home among the nests and young ones as the Cormorants themselves. This 

 clearing away daily of the surplus lish must minimise the odour, which is bad enough as it is." 

 Mr. R. N. Atkinson writes me from Tasmania: — " I found a small colony of Little Black 

 and White Cormorants (I'/ialaaviorax niclanclcHiiis) breeding on I'linders Island, Bass Strait, on 

 the joth October, 1909. The nests were placed in the branches of low Tea-trees, as were those 

 of P. uoviC-hoUandi,r, in whose company these birds were breeding, the material used being small 

 twigs, with a lining of hue twigs and young shoots of some soft dry shrub. There was a slight 

 variation in size, but a typical nest measured — outside diameter fourteen inches, inside seven 

 inches by two and a half inches deep. The eggs were four or five in number, from fresh to hard 

 set. The birds left the nests on my approach, and together with the larger species described 

 wide circles overhead until I had disappeared." 



Inland this species breeds in Tea-tree swamps, also in Gum-trees overhanging rivers and 

 creeks, and for preference in those standing in flooded country or in back waters, se\-eral nests 

 frequently being built in the same tree, and often in company with other species. The 

 nest is a comparatively small and nearly Hat stick-formed structure, and usually lined with 

 Eucalyptus leaves. 



The eggs are usually four or five in numlier for a sitting, but six or seven are sometimes 

 found ; they are oval or elongate-oval in form, or lengthened ellipses, pointed at one end, 

 often occur, of a uniform pale bluish-white, which is more or less obscured with a coating of 

 lime, and vary considerably in size. .\ set of five in the Australian Museum Collection, taken 

 at Ulmarra, Clarence River, New South Wales, measures : — Length (.\) 1-93 x 1-23 inches; 

 (B) 1-84 X 1-33 inches; (C) 176 x 1-23 inches; (D) rS x ri8inches; (E) 1-85 x 1-22 inches. 

 Another set of five in the above Collection, taken at Lake Buloke, near Donald, in North- 

 western Victoria, measures :— Length (A) r8 x 1-25 inches; (B) 1-82 x 1-3 inches; (CJ 1-82 



X 1-22 inches; (D) rs x 1-3 inches; (E) 1-98 x 1-35 inches, .\nother set of five taken in 

 the same locality measures.- — Length (.\) 1-9 x 1-21 inches; (B) i-8 x i-2i inches; (C) 177 



X 1-23 inches; (D) 175 x 1-2 inches; (E) i-S x 1-21 inches. A set of four taken at 

 Coomooboolaroo, Duaringa, Queensland, by Mr. H. G. Barnard, on the loth October, 1903, 

 measures: — Length (.\) 2-07 x 1-28 inches; (B) i-8g x 1-2 inches; (C) 2-05 x 1-25 inches; 

 (D) 2 X 1-27 inches. .A set of four taken near Booligal, Lachlan Ri\er, South-western New- 

 South Wales, measures: — Length (A) 1-93 x 1-25 inches; (B) 1-94 x 1-22 inches; (C) i-ij x 

 i'25 inches; (D) r94 x i'26 inches. 



There is apparently no fixed breeding season, although nests with eggs are more common 

 in October and November. 



Sub-family PLOTIN^. 



OemaS :E=IjOT"U"S, Linanm. 



Plotus novee-hollandiae. 



DARTER. 

 I'lotHS none-hollandue, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1847, p. 34 ; id., Bds. Austr., fob. Vol. VII., pi. 75 

 (1848); id., Handhk. Bds. Austr., Vol. II., p. 4'JG (18G.5) ; Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. Bds. Brit. 

 Mus., Vol. XXVI., p. 417 (1898) ; Sharpe, Hand-1. Bds,, Vol. I., p. 236 (1899). 



Adult m.\le. — (intirral colour black, the under parts dighthj mori' glossy than the wpper ; iiiiUls 

 black : upper wing-cocrts black broadly streaked with silucri/-tc/iifc, t/ie scapulars similar but narrmi-ly 

 centred n:it/i silrerygrey ; tail black : lon-er part of neck and upper hack black, the margins of flo 



