BALLUS. 329 



hollowed out on the top and measures about nine inches across 

 externally. Those situations that are covered with a growth of 

 low Melaleuca are favourite breeding places of this species, also 

 the margins of rivers and creeks and neglected plantations. Eggs 

 four to six in number for a sitting, of a creamy-white, blotched 

 and spotted all over, but more particularly towards the larger end 

 ■v(rith irregular shaped blood-red markings, a few nearly obsolete 

 spots of faded lilac appearing as if beneath the surface of the shell. 



Dimensions of a set in the Australian Museum Collection. 

 Length (A) 1 '42 x 1-09 inch ; (B) 1-5 x M3 inch ; (C) 1-42 x 

 1-09 inch; (D)l •44x1-1 inch. 



A set in the Dobroyde Collection measure as follows : — length 

 (A) 1-43 X 1-09 inch; (B) 1-44 x Ml inch; (C) l-4x M inch; 

 (D) 1-47 X 1 '14 inch. 



September and the three following months constitute the 

 breeding season of this species. 



Hah. Port Darwin and Port Essington, Gulf of Carpentaria, 

 Cape York, Rockingham Bay, Port Denison, Wide Bay District, 

 Richmond and Clarence Rivers Districts, New South Wales, 

 Interior, Victoria and South Australia, West and South- West 

 Australia. {Hamsay.') 



Genus EALLUS, Linnceus. 



RALLUS BRACHIPUS, Swaimon. 

 Lewin's Water-Eail. 

 Gould, Handbk. Bds. Aust., Vol. i., sp. 571, p. 336. 



This bird resorts to the margins of rivers and lagoons for the 

 purposes of breeding, the nest is usually placed in a tuft of rushes, 

 and is composed of grass and various aquatic plants. 



A set of the eggs of this bird in Dr. James C. Cox's Collection two 

 in number, are of a dull white, finely freckled and blotched with 

 chestnut-brown and superimposed markings of bluish-grey, all of 



