oO. 
569 
57° 
57! 
572 
No. in 
A. J. 
Be Campbell's No. of 
Book. 
Eggs. 
THE JACKSONIAN OOLOGICAL COLLECTION. 
tree at the foot of a mountain, during the visit of our party to the Monkey Water Holes, below Picnic 
Point, near Toowoomba, Q., in October of 1883, and I have very good reason never to forget it, as we 
had quite an exciting experience during that trip. One night, after a long day’s rambling in the scrubs 
and mountains, we retired in real camp-life fashion, all rolled up in blankets and huddled before a big 
fire, which had been made on the flat rock in the bed of the creek, which was apparently quite dry. All 
went well until midnight, when a terrific explosion was heard, which sent red hot ashes, stones and large 
pieces of wood in all directions, but fortunately no person was injured beyond receiving a few slight 
burns from scattered embers. We were all ata loss to know what had happened, though the whole 
thing looked as if there had been a serious mishap ; however, on examining the place where the fire 
had been made, we found that the top of the rock was actually blown away, leaving a hollow receptacle 
beneath containing boiling water; so that, before making our fire, it must have contained quite a 
quantity of agua pura to generate sufficient steam to shatter the hard rock in this way, for it was 
over six inches thick. This flat rock, which formed the bed of the creek, was evidently full of these 
hermetically sealed cavities containing water, the latter gaining access by gradual and constant perco- 
lation. The creek also contained numerous large round cup and water-bottle shaped holes, many of which 
no doubt were originally hidden inside the rock. I always remember my first nest of the Little Nightjar 
from this incident, though needless to say it was no little ‘night jar” to us. 
Pair of eggs, which were taken by Geo. Savidge, near Copmanhurst, Clarence River, N.S.W., on the 
16th of September, 1895. When the eggs of this species are rolled together, they give off a harsh 
sound, as if made of unglazed china, such as we often find outside the bottom of a teacup. Specimen 
A., which is rather pointed, measures = 1°12 x o°84. 
SPOTTED NIGHTUJAR, 
Eurostopus guttatus, V. and H. 
Set of one egg, taken on the 18th of September, 1898, froma stony and thickly timbered ridge 
near Lavadia, South Grafton, N.S.W., by Sid. W. Jackson. The egg was simply laid on the bare 
ground, and I flushed the bird off it as I walked along. This is the second egg I have taken near 
South Grafton of this species. It measures = 1'27 x 0°92. 
WHITE-THROATED NIGHTJAR, 
Lurostopus albigularis, V. and H. 
Set of 1 egg, which is a beautiful specimen, and was taken by Frank and Sid. W. Jackson on a 
ridge behind Morris’s orchard, near South Grafton, Clarence River district, on the 25th of December, 
1897. This ridge is very gravelly, and covered with several species of Eucalyptus trees, while strewn 
about are numerous stones of a very curious iron-band formation. The birds breed in this locality 
every season, and we have found several of their nests, each containing a single egg. Like that 
of the preceding species, the egg is simply laid on the bare earth or gravel, and the ground colouring is 
of a rich cream, not of a greenish tinge as is the case with Zurostopus guttatus, being sparsely marked 
all over with spots of dark purple. Nymboi Jack, the aboriginal who collected for me at different times 
in the Clarence River district, found three eggs in the bush near Nymboida. I have often hunted 
these birds off the ground in the bush at Roseville and Chatswood, near Sydney. The egg under 
notice measures = 162 X I'I5. 
LARGH-TAILED NIGHTVJAR, 
Caprimulgus macrurus, Horsfield. 
Splendid set of 2 eggs, which was taken at North Queensland, by one of A. J. Campbell’s corres- 
pondents there, on the 1st of August, 1898. 1 saw these birds in the scrubs of the Richmond River 
district during 1899, but found no eggs. Specimen A. measures = 1'14 x 0°82. Specimen B. = 
114 x 0°85. 
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