290 
PERDICID/E. 
composed of dried grasses, ifcc., on the ground in the long rank 
grass bordering water courses and rivers. Eggs of a pale bluish- 
white finely freckled all over with very minute light brown 
markings, which appear foreign to the shell, and when moistened 
are easily rubbed off. The dimensions of four eggs in the 
Australian Museum Collection are as follows length (A) 1-26 x 
0-97 inch; (B) 1-24 x 0-94 inch; (C) 1-21 x 0-93 inch ; (D) 1-2 x 
0-92 inch. 
A set of live taken at Dobroyde on the 20th March 1867, give 
the following measurements:—length (A) 1T8 x 0-94 inch; (B) 
M3 x 0-9 inch; (C) M7 x 0-9 inch; (D) 1 18 x 0 92 inch ; (E) 
1-17 x0-91 inch. 
The eggs of this species are usually swollen ovals in form, and 
rather pointed at one end. 
This bird commences to breed in September, and continues 
until the end of March, during which time two or more broods 
are reared. 
Hob. Derby, N. W. Australia, Gulf of Carpentaria, Cape York, 
Rockingham Bay, Port Denison, Wide Bay District, Richmond 
and Clarence Rivers Districts, New South Wales, Interior, 
Victoria and South Australia, Tasmania, West and South-West 
Australia. (Ramsay.) 
SYNOICUS DIEMENENSIS, Gould. 
Tasmanian Swamp-Quail. 
Gould, Handbk. Bds. Aust., Vol ii. sp. 488, p. 194. 
This bird is confined to Tasmania, and is found breeding among 
rank herbage in the vicinity of swamps and rivers. Eggs twelve 
to fourteen in number for a sitting, in form swollen ovals, being 
rather sharply pointed at the smaller end, of a greenish-white 
ground colour, thickly freckled all over with very minute spots of 
brown. Dimensions of three average specimens taken in November 
1885 in Tasmania, are as follows : — length (A) 1‘22 x 0'93 inch ; 
(B) 1-2 x 093 inch; (C) 1-23 x 0-94 inch. 
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