THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Mr. Tom Carter writes: ‘‘This was an occasional visitor in the North-west 
when the pools were plentiful ; and it was most numerous in the years 1898 
and 1900.” 
Mr. F. L. Bemey* writing from the Richmond district of North 
Queensland, says : “But seldom seen, and then during the wet season, though 
I have had them reported to me in June. Never very numerous. I have seen 
as many as thirty on a swamp.” 
Miss Fletcher tells me that she took the eggs of this species in Tasmania 
in September, 1909. She says the lagoon where she found the nest was 
a small one, surrounded by rushes. Before deciding on a particular spot 
this bird (like Porphyrio 7nelanotus) makes a great many commencements, 
treading down the rushes and partly building nests. All the nests found 
were made of coarse rushes bitten into lengths, and were without any lining. 
They were built in reeds standing in from one to two feet of water and about 
six inches above the surface. Generally the clumps containing the nests were 
close to open sheets of water, and the birds when disturbed slipped quickly 
through the rushes and disappeared. In one instance a platform was con- 
structed to a nest. They desert any nest from which they have been startled. 
The eggs measured 1.9 to 1.8 by 1.4 to 1.3 inches. 
Mr. J. W . Mellor informs me that these birds are to be seen on the principal 
waters of South Australia. They go in large flocks. He has seen them on 
Lakes Alexandrina and Albert in hundreds, beating up against the wind at the 
lake’s side. They fly with a quick, sharp motion. He also says their nests are 
placed just out of reach of water at flood time. 
Mr. Littlerf says : “ Diving is often resorted to when feeding ; the birds 
give a slight upward spring and then disappear for a short space, returning 
with some food plucked from below. In addition to vegetable stuffs, the usual 
insects and moUuscs found in and about lakes and lagoons are devoured.” 
The bird figured and described is a male collected by the late William 
Stalker, near Alexandra Station in the Northern Territory, on March 10th, 1906. 
* Emu, VI., p. 109 (1907). 
^ Hcmdhook B. Tasmania, p. 119. 
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