SUPPLEMENT TO NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTR. BIRDS NORTH. 13 
Strix Candida, Tickell. Grass Owl. 
Gould , Suppl. Bds. Austr ., fol. edit., pi. i. 
Mr. J. A. Boyd, of the Herbert River, Queensland, has kindly 
sent the following notes relative to the nidification of this species : 
“ This Owl nests on the ground, choosing a high thick tussock of 
grass, forming a bower in it, and laying its eggs on the few grass 
blades that have been trampled down. On the 1st of June, 1884, 
I found two nests of this bird, each of which contained three 
young ones and one egg. It is a curious fact that though this 
bird always lays four eggs, I never found more than three young 
ones, one egg being always addled. A friend of mine here has 
also had the same experience. It seems strange that the bird 
should lay an egg more than she is able to hatch. When first I 
came here these birds were comparatively common, but latterly 
have almost disappeared from this immediate neighbourhood, 
owing I think to the largely increased quantity of cattle running 
over the plain.” 
The two eggs referred to by Mr. Boyd are more elongated than 
is the rule with most Owl’s eggs, and may be described as thick 
ovals in form, white, the shell with the exception of a few 
calcareous excrescences at the larger end being perfectly smooth 
and lustreless. Length (A) 1*69 x 1*27 inch ; (B) 1*73 x 1*26 inch. 
The range of this species extends over India, China, the 
Phillipine Islands, and the Northern and Eastern portions of 
Australia. 
Edoliisoma tenuirostre, Jar dine. Jardine’s Campephaga. 
Grancalus tenuirostris , Jard., Edinb. Journ. Nat. Sci. iv. p. 211. 
Ceblepyris jardinii, Riippell, Mus. Senckenb. iii. p. 30. 
Campephaga jardinii, Gould, Bds. Austr. fol. Vol. ii. pi. 60. 
Gould , Handbk . Bds. Austr., Yol. i., sp. 109, p. 200. 
^During the latter end of September, 1882, Mr. C. C. L. Talbot- 
observed a pair of these birds building their nest in the angle of 
a thin forked horizontal branch of an fronbark ( Eucalyptus sp.), 
about forty feet from the ground, on Collaroy Station, Broad 
Sound, 556 miles N.W. of Brisbane. A week after, seeing the 
female sitting on the nest for some length of time, he climbed up 
to it and found it contained a perfectly fresh egg, which he took 
(not waiting for the full complement, which is probably two), as 
the tree was a difficult one to climb, at the same time securing 
the nest. It was a small and shallow structure composed of wiry 
grasses securely fastened together with cobwebs, and closely 
resembled the branch on which it was placed. The egg is ovoid 
in form, of a very pale bluish-grey ground colour, uniformly 
* North, Eec. Austr. Mus., Yol. i., No. 8, July, 1891. 
