BEOMAICS. 293 



District, during the breeding season of 1881 no less than 1,500 

 eggs were destroyed ; and on another station in the Cobar District, 

 more than that number were broken during 1887. No less than 

 10,000 Emus were destroyed in the Wilcannia District, New 

 South Wales, during the first nine months of 1 888.* The breeding 

 season commences as early as June and continues till the end 

 of September. 



" Mr. K. H. Bennett in MSS. notes states that the nests vary 

 in different situations : on the plains the eggs are deposited on 

 the bare ground, and if amongst the low polygonum, so common 

 on large areas, the eggs are surrounded by a ring of short broken 

 pieces of the stems of this plant, apparently for the purpose of 

 keeping them in position and preventipg them from rolling away. 

 At other times they are placed on a thin layer of grass and without 

 any protecting ring, whilst in the timbered country, and 

 particularly where " Leopard " trees abound, a low flat mound 

 some three inches high is formed by scraping together the scales 

 of bark, thrown off by the above mentioned trees, on which the 

 eggs are placed." 



Eggs from seven to ten in number for a sitting, usually oval in 

 form, and in some instances slightly pointed at each end, in others 

 at the smaller apex only. The colour varies in all shades of dark 

 green, and occasionally one egg in a sitting is found of a very pale 

 green. The shell is pitted and granulated all over, closely 

 resembling shagreen in appearance. 



Dimension of two eggs in the Australian Museum Collection. 

 Length (A) 5-4 x 3-65 inches; (B) 5-45 x 3-6 inches. 



Three average specimens from a set of seven in the Dobroyde 

 Collection, taken by Mr. James Ramsay at Tyndarie, in July,"^ 

 measure as follows : — length (A) 5-4 x 3-6 inches ; (B) 5-5 x 3-5 i 

 inches ; (C) 5-5 x 3"55 inches. ^ 



Sab. Cape York, Rockingham Bay, Port Denison, Wide Bay 

 District, Dawson River, Richmond and Clarence Rivers Districts, 

 New South Wales, Interior, Victoria and South Australia. 

 {Ramsay ) 



* Sydney Morning Herald, October 15th, 18S8. 



