186 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



There really appears no tangible difference between the eggs- 

 of the western and eastern varieties of the Emu except that the 

 former are a little smaller in size. 



544. Mycteria Australis — (Jabiru or Black-necked Stork). 

 Locality — North Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, and 

 New Guinea. Egg — Round oval in shape ; colour, dull white ;: 

 shell, somewhat coarse, as if porous or pitted with pin points, 

 especially at both ends. A pair of eggs exhibited by me on 

 xoth October last were in length 2 inches 11 lines ; breadth, 2 

 inches i|- to 2 lines. 



These, the first recorded eggs of Australia's only Stork, were 

 taken in the Clarence district, New South Wales, about the end 

 of August, 1887, from a huge stick nest, lined with grass and 

 other material, and situated in a large tree in the centre of a 

 swamp. The nest was fully 12 feet in circumference, with a 

 considerable cavity, and so enormous that in taking the eggs a 

 man-hole had to be made from underneath, through which one 

 of the eggs (of which there were three) unfortunately fell 

 into the water and was lost. The full complement would 

 have been probably four eggs. 



571. Hypot^nidia brachipus — (Lewin's Water Rail).. 

 Locality — Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South and 

 West Australia, and Tasmania. Egg — Oval in form, shell fine,. 

 and surface slightly lustrous. Ground colour of a beautiful 

 pinkish white, fairly marked with spots and blotches of chestnut, 

 pinkish red, and dull purple, the last colour appearing as if 

 beneath the shell's surface. Length, i inch 3^ to 4^ lines '^ 

 breadth, i inch. 



Having received the eggs of this pretty Rail from different 

 quarters, I have deemed it necessary to describe them, because 

 in none can I discern the "pale olive" ground colour mentioned 

 in Gould and elsewhere, and which is probably referable to the 

 eggs of the Tabuan Water Crake ( Porzana tabiiensis). 



Lewin's Rail constructs a nest of very fine grasses among the 

 rushes of a swamp. The top of the nest is about six inches 

 above the surface of the water, and generally has a singular 

 stage or ladder leading down from it. Clutch of eggs, from 

 four to six in number. 



580. Branta (Chlamydochenj jubata — (Maned Goose or 

 Wood Duck). Locality — Australia, except North, and Tas- 

 mania. Egg — Light cream colour, surface a little smooth or 

 greasy, nearly oval in form. Two eggs from a clutch taken in 

 Queensland measured — (i) 2 inches 3 lines x i inch 7^ lines;. 

 (2) 2 inches 2| lines x i inch 7 lines. 



Last season a Wood Duck's nest was taken from a dead 

 redgum-tree standing in a lagoon near Sale, Gippsland. The 

 nest, which was composed of a considerable abundance of 

 light-coloured down, Avas three or four feet in from the 



