1868.] LETTEK FROM MR. E. V. RAMSAY. 51 



of the nest is 26 inches, height 12, and width 18 inches; the en- 

 trance is 5 or 6 inches in diameter, and its lower edge 4| in thickness. 

 The whole of the interior is lined with feathers, which, being much 

 of the same colour as the egg, help to protect it and hide it from 

 view. All the nests and eggs which I possess, with the exception of 

 one, were procured in the Illawarra district, chiefly from the ravines 

 and gullies in the neighbourhoods of Appin and Wollongong. Occa- 

 sionally the same nest is used more than once, after being lined 

 afresh with feathers. The eggs are of three varieties at least : — 



" Var. a, the most common, is of a light stone-grey, with darker- 

 coloured blotches and spots, and a few jet-black dots ; length 2'4 to 

 2*5 inches by 1'6 to 1'7 in breadth. Other specimens are dull brown, 

 stone-brown, or dark blackish brown, with dull-brown spots and 

 blotches when fresh. 



" Var. /3 is of a reddish-brown colour, with dark blackish-brown 

 spots, and a beautiful blush of pinkish purple over the whole surface. 

 I have only seen one of this very marked variety, 2*35 inches in 

 length by 1'65 in breadth. 



" Var. y is a most peculiar-looking egg, of a uniform dark me- 

 tallic blackish brown, having obscure spots and blotches of a 

 darker tint, almost invisible at a short distance ; length 2"5 by 1*7 

 inches ; and, like many of the other specimens, this variety has jet- 

 black lines and dots dispersed over the surface. 



" The young, which are hatched early in August, but sometimes 

 as late as the end of September, are of a whity- brown colour upon 

 leaving the egg, but become darker as they get older ; the crown of 

 the head is covered with long dusky slate- coloured down, which hangs 

 over the neck (which is quite bare) on to the back ; the wings have 

 a fringe of shorter down round them, being longest on their lower 

 edge ; the upper part of the rump, ceiatre of the back, and the tail 

 are also covered with down, while two rows of short down grow along 

 the thighs. The bare triangular part of the neck is surrounded by 

 a narrow fringe of very short down, while two edges, still shorter and 

 of a light yellow colour, grow on either side of the breast or keel of 

 the sternum. Down on the head from 1| to 2 inches in length ; on 

 rump and tail it is 2 inches long. Bill "5 inch in length, blackish 

 brown at tip ; tarsi '8 inch in length. 



" Upon finding that Mr. Gould is wont to consider the South- 

 Australian Lyre-bird to be of a distinct species from that found in 

 New South Wales, I took the earliest opportunity of obtaining South- 

 Australian specimens, and in due time received from Port Phillip six 

 tolerably good skins, which I have now before me, consisting of 

 three adult males, one young male, and two females. Having closely 

 examined and compared these with numerous specimens shot in 

 various parts of New South Wales, as well as with a very complete 

 series in my own collection, I must say that, although not altogether 

 unprepared, I was greatly disappointed to find that Mr. Gould had 

 endeavoured to form a species from such trivial differences as are 

 exhibited in the more defined and deeper-coloured bars of the two 

 outer tail-feathers of some of the Port-Phillip birds. I say some, 



