iSiaiAijTis. 305 



have met with it high up on the Began and Bell RiverSj and on 

 the Murrumbidgee River, near Yass ; it gives preference to the 

 margins of inland lakes and lagoons rather than the sea-coast. 

 Mr. J. S. Ramsay, a most persevering and successful oologist, 

 found it breeding during the months of October, November, and 

 December on the margins of the Bell River, at Cardington. There 

 was always a difficulty in discovering the eggs, from their similarity 

 to the adjacent ground on which they were laid, it being necessary 

 to watch the birds to their eggs. Mr. James Ramsay of Nanama, 

 near Yass, has also sent me authentic eggs of this species, taken 

 in that district, while others which I have received from Melbourne' 

 and South Australia, all exhibit a similar style and colour in their 

 markings. The eggs are two or three in number for a sitting, 

 and are usually placed with the thinner ends together, in a slight 

 depression in the sand or pebbles near water ; the ground colour 

 is of a rich creamy-white when fresh, nearly obscured by numerous 

 irregular angular markings and hair-lines of blackish-brown, dark 

 brown, and bluish slate-colour, the last appearing as if beneath 

 the surface of the shell. In some specimens these markings are 

 close together, giving a clouded appearance to the eggs, in others, 

 about equally dispersed over the whole surface. In some light 

 varieties they are less numerous at the thinner end ; and these 

 specimens are slightly smaller in size. Length l-Oo x 0'8 inch ; 

 the darker and most usual variety 1-1 inch in length by 0-85 inch 

 in breadth." (Ramsay, P.Z.S., 1877, p. 336.) 



I have frequently taken the eggs of this species in the Albert 

 Park, near Melbourne, and have received them from nearly every 

 portion of Australia. 



A set taken by Mr. James Ramsay, at Nanama, measures as 

 follows :— length (A) 1-08 x 0-83 inch ; (B) 1-12 x 0-85 inch. 



Two eggs taken by the late Mr. T. H. Boyer-Bower, at Derby, 

 North-western Australia, in 1886, give the following measurements 

 Length (A) 1-06 x 0-81 inch; (B) 1 -OS x 0-78 inch. 



Hah. Derby, Nprth-West Australia, Rockingham Bay, Port 

 Denison,Wide Bay District, Dawson River, Richmond an4 Clarence 



T 



