392 Mr. D. Le Souef on new or little-known 



axillaries white^ with grey shaft-streaks : " iris brown ; beak 

 yellow, upper mandible from base of culmen towards tip 

 light brown; feet yellow^ membrane (in female) brown/' 

 Length 470 mm., wing 190, tail 130, culmen 35, tarsus 32. 



Female like the male, but smaller (length 440 mm.), duller 

 in colouring, with narrower speculum ; rectrices narrowly 

 barred with white and with broader edges, and the bars of 

 the lower back and rump undulated. 



''Male and female: Mt. Scratchley at 12,200 feet, Sept. 

 24th, 1896 ; contents of stomach, stones and dirt.'' 



The egg is of a uniform creamy grey, 55*5 x 42 mm. 



The duckling, as shown by a specimen in spirit, is above 

 brown, wing and rump posteriorly edged with white, tips of 

 tail brownish grey ; a broad superciliary band, encroaching 

 in front on the forehead, and sides of head and neck white ; 

 a black stripe from the hinder canthus of eye to occiput : 

 bill, legs, and feet blue, nail of bill and nasal region horn- 

 yellow. 



[Mr. De Vis had given a new name to this Duck, but it is 

 certainly the same as the curious form of Waigiou lately 

 described and figured in Nov. Zool. (i. p. 683, and ii, p. 22, 

 pi. iii.) as Salvadorina waigiuensis. We therefore omit 

 Mr. De Vis's name, having received full authority to amend 

 his MS.— Edd.] 



XXX. — Descriptions of some new or little-known BircVs-eggs 



from Queensland. By D. Le Souef (of Melbourne). 

 The following notes relate to the nesting and eggs of various 

 birds which I have either collected myself or of which I 

 have recently received specimens with remarks from my 

 correspondents in Queensland. 



1. Dacelo cervina (Gould). Fawn-breasted Kingfisher. 



I noticed this bird on two or three occasions in the open 

 forest country near Cooktown and found two of their nests, 

 each of which contained three eggs ; both nests were hollows 

 scooped out in termites' nests in eucalyptus trees, one about 

 thirty feet from the ground and the other fifty. The birds 



