S3 
PLOTUS NOViE-HOLL ANDIiE, Gould. 
The New Holland Snake-bird or Darter. 
Gould, Ilandbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. ii., sp. 657, p. 496. 
*Thc Trustees of the Australian Museum have lately received 
the eggs of Plolus novai-hollandice, taken by Mr. J. L. Ayres at 
Lake Buloke, in the Wimmera District of Victo.tia, on 1st April, 
1891. The nest was built at a height of about fifteen feet, on the 
branch of a Eucalyptus standing in the water, it was outwardly 
composed of sticks lined inside with twigs, and contained five 
eggs, one of which was unfortunately broken in descending the 
tree. The eggs are elongated ovals in form tapering gradually 
towards the smaller end, where they are somewhat sharply pointed; 
the shell has a thick, white, calcareous covering, only a few scratches 
here and there revealing the true colour underneath, which is of 
a pale blue. Length (A) 2 , 41 x 1'45 inches; (B) 2‘32 x D42 
inches; (C) 2-34 x 1-45 inch ; (D) 2-43 x 1-47 inch. Although 
very late in the season, Mr. Ayres found another Darter’s nest on 
the same day, containing five newly hatched young ones. 
This species is found all over Australia, but is more sparingly 
distributed in the extreme Southern and Western portions of the 
Continent. 
* North, Ree. Austr. Mus., Vol. i.. No. 7, June, 1891. 
