The Emu. 
55 
near the Totangi River. It was placed in an isolated rough 
tussock fully 200 yards from the river on a clear grassed flat. 
Now, these birds would never have bred in such a position had 
not their previous haunts been interfered with. In the follow- 
ing December (1900) I took another nest containing five eggs, 
in a position almost similar, but further up the river. The nest 
of 1899 contained two eggs and a newly-hatched young. One 
peculiar thing noticed was the number of broken pipi shells 
lying around this nest. The sitting bird had evidently been fed 
by its mate, and these mussels had been carried 200 yards from 
the river. There were no shells about the 1900 nest, but then 
the eggs were very slightly incubated. I have also observed the 
nest in a crop of Cape barley fully half a mile from water. 
As to the nest of the Swamp Hen, I have never noticed any 
green stuff used as lining — always dry grass or raupo. One 
peculiar point noticed in the greater number of nests observed is 
that the cavity is somewhat oval, with a run or stepway to one 
end of the oval. They are never built very high from the 
ground, and measure about 12 inches by 9 inches for the cavity, 
and from 1.5 inches to 2 inches in depth. 
The usual breeding months are September, October, Novem- 
ber, and December, but I have caught young as late as May. 
Mr. A. J. Campbell, in his historical work on " The Nests and 
Eggs of Australian Birds," gives the clutch as from four to six 
in Australia. I have taken a large number of nests, and place 
the average at five. On one occasion, however, I took the large 
number of fourteen eggs from one nest, but, as must be the case 
with large clutches such as this, two or more birds probably 
used the same nest. This is most likely, as the swamp from 
which I took the eggs had been burnt, and, although originally 
about five acres in extent, was reduced to a couple of patches of 
raupo measuring about forty yards by fifteen. In these patches 
all the Pukekos in the locality had to build, and from them I 
took nests containing 4, 14, 6, 6, 7, 5. Four of the eggs from 
the fourteen clutch were more boldly splashed (not spotted) with 
chestnut than any I have ever seen. Other clutches taken in 
New Zealand are as follows : — 8, 5, 5, 5, 3, 7, 5. 
The eggs do not vary much in size or colouring, and those of 
each clutch are always much alike in shape and markings. In 
some the markings are larger and bolder than in others, while on 
others the spots are of uniform size and evenly distributed. Some 
have the chestnut markings confined more or less in a ring at 
the larger end and the underlying violet spots thinly scattered 
all over the egg. The ground colour varies from a pale cream 
to a rich brownish-cream, and the eggs are lightly spotted and 
splashed with chestnut brown and underlying violet. They 
measure from 2.1 inch to 1.85 inch in length, and from 1.49 inch 
to 1.3 1 inch in breadth. An average egg measures 1.96 inch x 
1.38 inch. 
