316 OIOONIID^. : 



accounts of which have been given by various writers. Allan 

 Hume in his valuable work on the " Nests and Eggs of Indian 

 Birds," deals exhaustively with the subject ; but it is only within 

 the last few years that it has been found breeding on the Australian 

 Continent. The nest is a huge flat structure composed of sticks, 

 lined with twigs and, grasses, and is usually placed in the high 

 boughs of a lofty tree in the near vicinity of water. Mr. Geo- 

 Barnard found a nest near Rockhampton, Queensland, but the 

 Jabirus did not remain long in indisputed possession of it, owing 

 to the repeated attacks of a pair of Wedge-tailed eagles, (Aquila 

 audax) which ultimately caused them to desert it. I am indebted 

 to Mr. John Leadbeater of the National Museum, Melbourne, for 

 the opportunity of describing these rare Australian eggs, which, 

 he informs me, were taken in August 1887, in the Clarence 

 River district, New South Wales. They are oval in form, being 

 nearly equal in size at both ends, of a dull yellowish-white or 

 whity-brown colour, the surface of the shell being smooth but 

 minutely pitted all over, similar to those of the Yellow-legged 

 Spoonbill (Platihis flwvipes), and measure as follows : — Length 

 (A) 2-93 X 2-1 inches ; (B) 2-92 x 2-12 inches. These eggs in 

 shape, colour, and size, agree with those described by Mr. A. 

 Hume ;* the average of forty-five eggs measured by him being 

 2"91 X 2-12 inches. So also do those of the Australian specimens 

 obtained in the neighbourhood of Ingham at the mouth of the 

 Herbert River, Queensland, in March 1885, and described in a 

 joint paper contributed to the Royal Society of Queensland by 

 Messrs. W. T. White and Henry Tryon on the 6th of August, 

 1886.t Dr. Ramsay informs me that a pair of these birds were 

 found breeding on the border of Lake Macquarie in I860' 

 During the last few years young birds have been occasionally 

 forwarded to the Australian Museum and Botanic Gardens, 

 Sydney, showing that the birds breed freely in New South Wales." 

 {Worth, P.L.S., N.S. W., 2nd Series, Vol. ii., p. 987.) 



* See " Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds " by Allan Hume, p. 608. 

 t See Proceedings of the Boyal Society, Queensland, p. 139. 



