BY W. J. RAIX130AV. 355 



that, riding through the l)ush in the autumn, they have seen 

 skeletons of small birds hanging in the webs of " triantelopes," as 

 they are pleased to call them. Mr. J. A. Thorpe, of the Australian 

 Museum, Sydne}^, has informed the author that at Madden's, near 

 Belle Plains, he has met with specimens of the emu wren [Stipi- 

 tariis malachunis) entangled in the sticky meshes of the webs of 

 :spiders of the genus JVephila; also at Cape York, he had seen 

 .several of the blue-warblers, notably Malurus amabilis, Gould, 

 and J/. B7'oivn{i, Vig. et Horsfield, that had fallen victims in a like 

 manner. It must be noted, however, that it is only young birds 

 •or those of a weak wing-power that are so captured. An Indian 

 writer states that in many unfrequented dark nooks of the jungle 

 the traveller comes across most perfect skeletons of small birds 

 •caught in the powerful snares of the Neq^Jdke, the strong folds of 

 which prevent the delicate bones from falling to the ground after 

 the wind and weather, together with other agencies, have dispersed 

 the flesh and feathers. Further, a naturalist, writing under the 

 nom-de-pluiiie " H. A. H.,'' from Cashar, to the Asia7i, stated that 

 he had "received from a neighbouring planter an adult female 

 of the three-toed Kingfisher which was found entangled in a 

 spider's web. Although true Kingfishers, these lovely birds feed 

 largel}^ on insects. Curiously enough," continued the writer, "the 

 stomach of the last bird I preserved contained a large brown 

 spider. Doubtless the bird went either for the spider or some 

 insect caught in the web, and got entangled in the sticky 

 meshes." 



Some writers on this subject have supposed, and even boldly 

 asserted, that birds so caught were devoured by the spiders in 

 whose webs they had become entrapped, but this conclusion is in 

 my opinion erroneous. In 1834 the late AV. S. Macleay, F.Z.8., 

 in a paper* communicated to the Zoological Society, London, 

 wrote : — " Now, it is certainly possible that the net of Nephila 

 should, in accord with Labat's account, accidentall}^ arrest such 

 small birds as are several species of TrochUidce; but I do not^ 



* Trans. Zool. Soc. 1834, pp. 192-3. 



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