210 A MANUAL OF THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



Podiceps nestor Gould, Synops. Birds Austr., pt. i, pi. 19, Jan. 1st, 1837 : Van Diemens 



Land and New South Wales = Tasmania. (W. Stone.) 



Podiceps poliocephalus chatesi Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 197, Jan. 31st, 1912: 



Point Cloates, mid- West Australia. 



DISTRIBUTION. Australia generally and Tasmania. 



Adult male in breeding -plumage. General colour of the upper-surface dark 

 slate-grey, the feathers of the mantle, back, scapulars, and wing-coverts fringed 

 with white ; bastard-wing, primary -co verts, and quills dark brown, the latter 

 blackish at the tips and white on the inner webs, the white increasing in extent on 

 the inner primaries, where they become white shaded with brown at the tips, the 

 dark pattern increasing on the inner secondaries, where it spreads over the greater 

 portion of the feathers, the white pattern being reduced to the base only ; sides of 

 the lower back and rump white streaked with brown ; head and neck all round 

 black, dusky on the fore-head and lores, the feathers on the top of the head and sides 

 of the face continued into white, hair-like tips, which impart a streaked appearance ; 

 lower hind-neck dusky -brown, becoming buff on the fore-neck ; breast also buff, 

 darker on the sides, which is continued along the sides of the body on to the lower 

 flanks, where they are greyish-brown ; under-surface pearly -white ; under wing- 

 coverts and axillaries white, the latter with dark brown on the outer webs ; bill 

 black, tip flesh colour ; iris straw-yellow ; tarsi and feet olive. Total length 

 271 mm. ; culmen 25, wing 111, tarsus 3.5. 



Adult female in breeding-plumage. Similar to the adult male but differs in 

 boing paler, the throat dark brown, and the fore-neck pale fawn. It is also somewhat 

 smaller. Total length 230 mm. ; culmen 25, wing 111, tarsus 32. 



Adult in winter. Everywhere paler on the upper-parts ; top of head grey, 

 blackish on the hind-neck ; the hair-like plumes short on the fore-head, longer on 

 the hinder face and sides of upper neck ; throat pale grey. 



Immature and Nestling. Similar to those of preceding. 



Nest. Very much like that of the preceding species. 



Eggs. Clutch, four to six ; ground-colour when fresh pale green, covered with 

 white chalky nodules ; axis 39, diameter 26-27. 



Breeding -season. October to January. 



Distribution and forms. Throughout Australia and Tasmania. It is possible 

 that more subspecies will be admitted later, but with the material at hand only two 

 are recognised, an eastern and a western form, the latter being darker above and 

 the buff on the sides of the breast being more extensive. The New Zealand bird, 

 P. rufopectus Gray is closely related but is specifically distinct. 



ORDER GALLI. 



This order comprises five suborders, the Hoatzin as sole member of one, 

 Curassows, Megapodes, etc., Hemipodes, and Seed Snipe. The Hoatzin, constituting 

 the Opisthocomiformes, has a wonderful literature on account of its mangrove 

 breeding-habits and its use of otherwise disused members. Nevertheless, it is 

 only a little modified relative of the Curassows and Guans and must be included 

 in the same order. Moreover, it inhabits the same countries, both being restricted 

 to South and Central America. The Craciformes, including the Curassows and 

 Guans, are peculiar low forms of Galline birds, agreeing in some internal features 

 with the Megapodes with which they have no near relationship. The former are 

 large birds which live in the forests in trees ; they are stoutly built with crested 

 heads and bare spaces round the eyes, varying in the different species, and mostly 

 of dark coloration. The Megapodes are famed for their peculiar lack of incubating 

 their eggs and will be more fully dealt with below as they belong to the Papuasian 

 and Australian Regions. They are only regarded as constituting a superfamily 



