“When an egg is to be deposited, the top is laid open, and a hole scraped in its centre to within 2 or 3 inches of the bottom of the layer of dead leaves. The egg is placed in the sand just at the edge of the hole, in a vertical position, with the smaller end downwards. The sand is then thrown in again, and the mound left in its original form. The egg which has been thus deposited is therefore completely surrounded and enveloped in soft sand, having from 4 to 6 inches of sand between the lower end of the egg and the layer of dead leaves. When a second egg is laid it is deposited in precisely the same plane as the first, but at the opposite side of the hole before alluded to. When a third egg is laid it is placed in the same plane as the others, but, as it were, at the third corner of a square. When the fourth egg is laid, it is still placed in the same plane; but in the fourth corner of the square, or rather of the lozenge, the figure being of this form, ⁘; the next four eggs in succession are placed in the interstices, but always in the same plane, so that at last there is a circle of eight eggs all standing upright in the sand with several inches of sand intervening between each. The male bird assists the female in opening and covering up the mound; and provided the birds are not themselves disturbed, the female continues to lay in the same mound, even after it has been several times robbed. The natives say that the females lay an egg every day. “Eight is the greatest number I have heard of from good authority as having been found in one nest; but I opened a mound which had been previously robbed of several eggs, and found that two had been laid opposite to each other in the same plane in the usual manner; and a third deposited in a plane parallel to that in which the other two were placed, but 4½ inches below them. This circumstance led me to imagine it was possible that there might be sometimes successive circles of eggs in different planes. “I enclose three sketches which will convey to you a complete idea of the form of the mound, and of the manner in which the eggs are placed in it. These sketches were drawn by Mr. Knight, from a rude one of mine, and are very accurate. [Illustration: No. 1. This sketch represents a section through the mound after the sand has been cleared out in such a manner that the eggs could all be removed, and the bottom of the nest of leaves be laid bare. It shows the form of the opening the natives make in the mound when they rob it of its eggs; this opening has however been continued below where the eggs are placed, in order to show the form of the interior nest. The pale tint represents that portion which is made of sand; the darker tint the part which is made of leaves, &c. ] [Illustration: No. 2.