NIDIFICATION OF MEGALOPREPIA MAGNIFICA — NORTH. 
17 
back and settle on a thick branch. I did not fire as it was a bit 
too far, and its body protected by the limb it was sitting upon. 
After having a good look round it flew into a thick patch of scrub 
a few yards away and was lost to view, however, it soon came 
back and settled about two feet from the nest, and facing us. I 
was afraid the spread of shot might shatter the nest, but as it 
was getting late I fired and the bird fell into a small pool of water 
beneath. The egg was secured after some trouble as the nest was 
built on the end of a thin outspreading branch of a 'Scrub 
Elm,’ about twenty feet from the ground. The scoop had to 
be used, and the nest was so small I was afraid the egg would 
roll over, and it took the black some time before he got it safely 
into the net. The limb was then chopped off and the nest secured. 
Upon dissection of the bird, which proved to be the female, no 
other egg was found in it approaching maturity, the largest being 
the size of a pea.” 
The nest of M. magnified, is an exceedingly small and perfectly 
flat structure, and with the exception of a few long straggling 
sticks lying almost parallel to the branch on which it is placed, 
barely averages five inches in diameter. It is built at the junction 
of a forked horizontal branch of an Aphananthe phillipinensis , 
which is partially covered with a growth of moss. The nest 
is composed of thin sticks and twigs intermingled with the 
wiry spiral tendrils of a vine ; the latter material wholly form- 
ing the centre of the structure for the reception of the egg. 
When sitting the Magnificent Fruit Pigeon would almost conceal 
the nest for very little of it is visible below the branch. The 
green leafy twigs which sprout out in close proximity to the nest, 
also harmonises well with the colour of the back, wings, and fail 
of the sitting bird, and renders it less liable to detection. The 
egg is pure white, elongate oval in form, and there is very little 
difference in the shape of the two ends, the texture of the shell 
being very fine and the surface lustreless. It measures 1-57 inch 
in length by 1*2 inch in breadth. 
Specimens of Megaloprepia magnified and M. assimilis from 
different localities measure as follows : — 
M. magnified. 
Sex. 
Length. 
Wing. 
Tail. 
Bill. 
Tarsus. Locality. 
$ ad. 
17 ‘25 in. 9*1 
7-6 
0*83 
IT Clarence River, N.S.W. 
c? ad. 
17*5 
9-1 
7-75 
0-85 
IT Maryborough, Wide 
Bay, Queensland. 
If. 
assimilis . 
cf ad. 
13*5 
7-6 
6- 75 
0-78 
1*05 Cairns, N.E. Queensland 
? ad. 
13 
7*1 
6-3 
0-62 
1 in. Cape York, N. Australia. 
7th January, 1897. 
