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CIC0NIID1E. 
accounts of which have been given by various writers. Allan 
Hume in his valuable work on tlio “ Hosts and Eggs of Indian 
Birds,” deals exhaustively with the subject; but it is only within 
the last few years that it has been found breeding on the Australian 
Continent. The nest is a huge flat structure composed of sticks, 
lined with twigs and grasses, and is usually placed in the high 
boughs of a lofty tree in the near vicinity of water. Mr. Geo- 
Barnard found a nest near Rockhampton, Queensland, but the 
Jabirus did not remain long in Undisputed possession of it, owing 
to the repeated attacks of a pair of Wedge-tailed eagles, (Aqnila 
audax) which ultimately caused them to desert it. I am indebted 
to Mr. John Leadbeater of the National Museum, Melbourne, for 
the opportunity of describing these rare Australian eggs, which, 
he informs me, were taken in August 1887, in the Clarence 
River district, New South Wales. They are oval in form, being 
nearly equal in size at both ends, of a dull yellowish-white or 
whity-brown colour, the surface of the shell being smooth but 
minutely pitted all over, similar to those of the Yellow-legged 
Spoonbill (Plalibis Jlcivipes), and measure as follows: — Length 
(A) 2-93x2-1 inches; (B) 2-92x2-12 inches. These eggs in 
shape, colour, and size, agree with those described by Mr. A. 
Hume ;* the average of forty-five eggs measured by him being 
2-91 x 2-12 inches. So also do those of the Australian specimens 
obtained in the neighbourhood of Ingham at the mouth of the 
Herbert River, Queensland, in March 1885, and described in a 
joint paper contributed to the Royal Society of Queensland by 
Messrs. W. T. White and Henry Tryon on the 6th of August, 
1886.f Dr. Ramsay informs me that a pair of those birds were 
found breeding on the border of Lake Macquarie in I860- 
During the last few years young birds have been occasionally 
forwarded to the Australian Museum and Lotanic Gardens, 
Sydney, showing that the birds breed freely in New South Wales.” 
(North, P.L.S., W.iS'. IF., 2nd Series, Vol. ii., p. 987.) 
* See “Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds” by Allan Humo,p. G08. 
f See Proceedings of the Koyal Society, Queensland, p. 139. 
