DENDROCYGNA. 339 



eggs of this bird myself, but Mr. P. Faithful informed me of a 

 nest similarly placed on the banks of a creek on his estate near 

 Goulburn. (Bamsay.) 



An average sized specimen in the Macleayan Museum Collection 

 measures 2 67 x 1'9 inch. 



Specimens taken from a hollow stump near the margin of a 

 lagoon in the Western District of Victoria, give the same average 

 measurements, but the texture of the shell is much liner and the 

 surface smooth. 



August and the four following months constitute the breeding 

 season of this species. 



Ilab. New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. 

 {^Ramsay.) 



Genus DENDROCYGNA, Swainsnn. 



DENDROCYGNA VAGANS, Eyton. 

 (D. gouldi, Bonaparte) 

 Whistling Tree-Duck. 

 Gould, Handhk. Bds. Aust, Vol. ii., sp. 591, p. 374. 



This species is distributed over the greater portion of the 

 Australian continent, according to Gilbert, " some eggs brought 

 to the settlement by the natives, and said to belong to this bird, 

 were taken early in March, from nests built in long grass on the 

 small islands adjacent to the harbour at Port Essington ; they are 

 of a-creaniy-white, one inch and seven-eighths long by one inch and 

 a-half in breadth." (Gould, Handbk. Bds. Aust.,- Vol. ii., p. 374.) 



Hab. Derby, N. W. Australia, 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, South Coast New Guinea. (Ramiiay.) 



