PORPIIYRIO. 
523 
eggs of a uniform very pale green, one inch and live-eighths long 
by one inch and a quarter broad.” [Gould, Handbk. Rds. Aust., 
Yol. ii., p. 317. 
Hub. Port Darwin and Port Essington, Gulf of Carpentaria, 
Cape York, Rockingham Bay, Port Denison, Wide Bay District, 
Richmond and Clarence Rivers Districts, New South Wales, 
South Coast New Guinea. [Ramsay.) 
Family RALLID^E. 
Genus POBPHYBIO, Brisson. 
PORPHYRIO MELANOTUS, Temminck. 
Black-backed Porphyrio. 
Gould, Handblc. Bds. Aust., Yol. ii., sp. 563, p. 321. 
“ The nest of this species is a rough structure of rushes and 
water-weeds &C., placed among the reeds in the lagoons, at a 
considerable distance from the edge, just above water-mark. The 
eggs are from three to live in number, of a light brown or yellowish 
stone-colour, varying considerably in tint and in the shape of the 
markings, but usually spotted and blotched with umber, dark 
reddish-brown and slaty-grey. The young are of a uniform 
blackish-slate colour on leaving the nest.” (Ramsay, P.Z.S., 
1877, p. 343.) 
Measurements of a set taken by Dr. Ramsay, from the Hexham 
Swamps, in 1861, are as followslength (A) 2-07 x H inches ; 
(B) 2-09 x 1-43 inches; (C) 2 x 1-41 inches; (D) 2-03 x D42 
inches; (E) 2'05 x P45 inches. 
Ilab. Port Darwin and Port Essington, Gulf of Carpentaria, 
Rockingham Bay, Port Denison, Wide Bay District, Richmond 
and Clarence Rivers Districts, New South Wales, Interior, 
Yictoria and South Australia, Tasmania. [Ramsay.) 
