214 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



I was favoured with an egg of this fine bird by the late Com- 

 mander J. M. R. Ince, R.N., who obtained it at Port Essing- 

 ton. Its ground-colour was cream-white, streaked and marked 

 all over with dark olive-brown, some of the markings being 

 large and bold without assuming any regular form, and others 

 mere blotches about an eighth of an inch in diameter ; while 

 many of the streaks were as fine as a hair, and were of a 

 crooked or zigzag form : it was two inches and a half long 

 by one inch and three-quarters broad ; judging from analogy, 

 I may venture to assert that two are laid at a time. 



Above and below the eye a broad mark of white, which is 

 continued down the side of the head, the eye and the white 

 marks being surrounded by a large patch of dark blackish 

 brown ; at the angle of the lower mandible is a small patch of 

 blackish brown ; throat and sides of the face dull white ; head 

 and all the upper surface light brown, the feathers of the head 

 and neck with a narrow line of dark brown down the centre ; 

 lesser wing-coverts dark brown, the last row crossed with 

 white near the tip, forming a line along the wing ; remainder 

 of the coverts grey, deepening into brown on the tertiaries ; 

 first three primaries dark brown at the base and tip, and 

 white in the centre, the remainder white stained with brown 

 near the tip ; tail grey, crossed with white near the tip, which 

 is dark brown ; fore-part of the neck like the head, but paler; 

 breast brownish grey ; abdomen and under tail-coverts buffy 

 white ; irides pale yellow ; eyelids primrose-yellow ; base of 

 the bill sulphur-yellow, which colour is continued along the 

 sides of the upper mandible above the nostrils ; remainder of 

 the bill black ; tibiae lemon -yellow ; tarsi and feet wine-yellow ; 

 the upper ridge of the scales of the toes lead-colour. 



