431 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Notes on the Habits of Menura Alberti. 

 By A. A. LEYCESTER, Esq. 



THE Menura Alberti is famous for its most extraordinary mocking 

 capabilities. It is found only on the Brisbane and Tweed rivers and 

 in the neighbourhood of their waters. It inhabits the rushes, and 

 generally chooses a sandy soil for its locality. I never saw more 

 than a pair together, male and female. Each male bird has his 

 walk or boundary, and gives battle if another male encroaches on it. 

 He commences singing some time before the dawn of day, being the 

 earliest of the forest-birds in this respect. His song is much varied, 

 as, besides his own peculiar note, he imitates the cries of all the birds 

 in the bush, such as the Laughing Jackass (Dacelo gigas), and even 

 the mournful howl of the Owl and the thrilling scream of the 

 Curlew. When singing and playing about, he spreads his tail over 

 his back like a peacock. He scratches and pecks at the earth while 

 singing, which he generally does until about an hour after sunrise. 

 He then becomes silent, and remains so until about an hour before 

 sunset, when he again commences, and continues singing and playing 

 about until it is quite dark. This Menura feeds entirely upon insects, 

 mostly small beetles, mingled with a goodly proportion of sand. It 

 has no crop or upper stomach. The male bird is about four years 

 old before he gets his full tail, as I have proved by shooting ex- 

 amples in full feather with the tail in four different stages of develop- 

 ment ; the two centre curved feathers are the last to make their 

 appearance. It breeds in winter, commencing its nest in May, laying 

 in June, and hatching its young in July. It generally builds on 

 some bare rock where there* is a sufficient shelter for a lodgment, so 

 that no animals or vermin can approach. The nest is constructed of 

 small sticks interwoven with long dry roots and moss, the inside 

 being composed of the skeleton leaf of the parasitical tree-fern, 

 which makes an inside lining, and is very similar to horse-hair. It 

 is completely rain-proof, and has an entrance at the side. The hen 

 lays only one egg, of a very dull colour, looking as if it had been 

 blotched over with ink. The young bird when first hatched is 

 covered with a white down, and remains in the nest about six weeks 

 before it takes its departure. The flesh is not good for food, being 

 of a dark colour, tough and dry. The aboriginal name is Colwin. 

 Proc. Zool. Soc. Feb. 14, 1860. 



On Sertularia tricuspidata. By J. REAY GREENE, Esq. 

 To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History. 



GENTLEMEN, Mr. Andrew Murray, in his "Descriptions of new 

 Sertulariada from the Californian Coast," published at page 250 of 

 the present volume of this Journal, has described a new species of 

 Sertularia as S. tricuspidata. 



But this name is preoccupied, having some years since been applied 



