52 THE BIRDS OF A DROUGHT. 



116.— Ardetta sinensis, Gm. (934). 



Common as this bird is, its nest is one of the most difficult 

 to find, and when found, to secure. It selects the matted leaves 

 of immense reeds, and places its nests on the summit where 

 wind and rain have entangled the leaves and worked them into a 

 platform. The nest itself is a mere pad of dry grass and leaves. 



I have only taken one nest, which contained four eggs. They 

 are without gloss and a pale green color. They measure 1*26, 

 1-31, 1-3, and 1-28 by -95, -95, -97 and -93, respectively. They 

 were found on the 20th August and were fresh. (N. & E., p. 

 623.) 



117.— Nettapus coromandeliamis, Gm. (951.) 



Nest with ten eggs on the 15th September in the hole of a 

 mango tree about 30 feet from the ground. (N. & E., p. 638.) 



%\z lirbs oi a Svon#. 



The general geographical range of any species may be 

 assumed to have been defined, either by physical barriers, past 

 or present, which were impassable to it, such as lofty chains 

 of mountains, seas, &c, or by the pressure of conditions un- 

 favourable to its existence, configural, climatic, nutritive or 

 competitive. 



Under configural conditions, I include all local terrestrial 

 features. Station implies a combination of such features favour- 

 able to the existence of the particular species in question, and 

 an absence of such features is a potential factor in the limi- 

 tation of range. 



Geographical range and station are often sharply contrasted ; 

 range is used as expressing the entire area on the world's 

 surface (as determined by a multiplicity of causes) over which 

 the species is spread with more or less continuity ; station is 

 used to signify the particular local areas (determined by terres- 

 trial features only) which the species affects. 



Thus of the Ospre}-, the range would be defined as " the 

 whole of the Old and New Worlds except part of South America," 

 the station as " the banks and coasts of more or less consider- 

 able aggregations of water, running or standing, fresh or salt, 

 and their immediate neighbourhoods." 



All local terrestrial features, not comprehensible in the ex- 

 pression " its station" are prima facie " configural" conditions 

 unfavourable to the existence of the particular species. 



