148 ON THE NEST AND EGGS OF CERTAIN AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



diameter seven inches, by four inches and a-half in depth; 

 interior diameter four inches and three-quarters, by two inches 

 and a-half in depth. Eggs two in number for a sitting, nearly 

 true ovals in form, tapering but slightly at one end, of a uniform 

 creamy white ; the shell is thin, the surface being smooth and 

 slightly glossy. Length (A), 1-67 x Ml inch; (B), 1-63 xll 

 inch. Both parent birds were procured at the time of taking 

 the eggs, which were in a very advanced state of incubation. 

 In addition to finding a great number of nests several very 

 young birds of Macropygia pltasianella, Plilopus superhus, and 

 Orthoiiyx spalflmgi were also obtained in the same locality, 

 showing that the breeding season had just terminated. It is 

 only right to mention that the eggs described above are not 

 altogether what, from analogy, they might be expected to be, 

 being quite different from those of any other species of the 

 family Scenopidce. Messrs. Cairn and Grant, however, state 

 that there can be no doubt as to their authenticity, the bird 

 having been shot from the nest. ( Aust. Mus. Coll.). 



Phaps histrionica, Gould. 



In some seasons this beautiful pigeon is to be found in countless 

 numbers on the vast plains of the intei'ior of Australia ; its range 

 also extends to Port Darwin and Derby, North-western Aus- 

 tralia, specimens having been procured at the latter place 

 both by Mr. E. J. Cairn and the late Mr. T. H. Boyer- 

 Bower during the latter part of 1886. In the evening 

 these birds arrive in large flocks at all the dams and water 

 tanks to drink, but at the slightest indication of danger they 

 take to flight. The specie-s is terrestrial in its habits, and for 

 the purposes of breeding generally resorts to the shelter of a 

 cotton bush, forming little or no nest but depositing the eggs upon 

 the bare ground. A pair of these birds in the aviary of the Hon. 

 William Macleay, laid two eggs this .season, which after being sat 

 upon for some time were deserted. Upon emptying them of their 

 contents, Mr. George Masters, the Curator of the Macleayaii 

 Museum, informs me that one of them contained a young bird 



