216 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 
and trampled down. Sometimes bark, pieces of sticks, and 
leaves of trees are used, intermingled with a few of the 
bird’s own feathers. Shape generally oval, about 4 feet by 
21 feet in size, and about 2 inches in thickness. Situation 
in open country usually near the base of a tree or stump, at 
other times in rank herbage or in the dry bed of a Polygonum 
swamp. Some authorities state that on the plains the eggs 
are deposited on the bare earth, while in the Mallee country 
the nest is formed almost entirely of strips of bark plucked 
from these trees by the bird. 
The nest or bed is constructed or augmented as the laying 
and incubation of the eggs proceed. 
Eqgs.—Clutch, usual average 9, but varies from 7 to 18. 
Elegant ovals in shape, a few exceptions being more swollen 
about the centre. The appearance of a collection of freshly- 
gathered unblown specimens is very beautiful; the surfaces 
are rough (not unlike shagreen), with granulations of dark 
ereen upon a shell of light metallic or verdigris green. In 
some clutches the granulations are so closely placed and 
flattened or squeezed down as to hide completely the inter- 
stices of light green? In such instances the eggs are of 
a more uniform dark green. The granules are slightly 
lustrous, but as incubation proceeds become much darker 
and polished, while the interstices become bluer or dingy in 
shade. Dimensions in inches of a normal clutch of 8 eggs :— 
(1) 5°62 x 3°62; (2) 5°56 x 3°62; (3) 5°5 x 3°68; (4) 5°5 x 3°68; 
(5) 5°5 x 3°62; (6) 5-43 x 3°68; (7) 5:31 x 3:5; (8) 506 x 3°31. 
The eggs in this clutch are somewhat lengthened ovals. 
No. 2 is much lighter in colour, caused by the granulations 
being more scattered over the shell (an exception not un- 
frequently seen in a set), while No. 8 is noticeably the 
smallest in the set. 
Another clutch of 8 rather small but beautiful eges 
gives average dimensions of 5°05 x 3:37 inches per egg. A 
remarkably regular-sized set of 12 gives 5°22 x 3°59 inches, 
while in a set of 13 of exceedingly dark green specimens (as 
explained by reason of the granulations completely covering 
the lighter coloured part of the shell), the average measure- 
ments are 5°16 x 3°66 inches. 
