42 



FTILOSORIiySCIlID.T:. 



frequently obtained them, also their nests and e<,'gs. South-east of Cobar. the late Mr. K. H. 

 Bennett obser\ed this species throughout the whole of the scrubby arid country lying between 

 the Lachlan and Darling Rivers, its range extending tln'oughout Ri\erina into Xorth-westem 

 Victoria. 



In the northern portions of Xew South Wales, I found it frequenting the scrubs in the 

 neighbourhood of the Xamoi and Gwydir Rivers; and doubtless, as in Gould's time, it is still 

 fairly numerous in the undisturbed scrubby ranges I passed by at Breeza to the northward of 

 the Liverpool Plains. At Xarrabri, it visits the fruit gardens along the Xamoi in small flocks 

 during the autumn months, and its nest and eggs have been taken at Little Mountain, about a mile 

 east of the town. At "Wilga," near Moree, I also observed it in Mr. C. J. IMclNIaster's garden. 

 Mr. McMaster, whose official duties necessitated his periodically visiting Collarenebri and 

 Walgett, informed me that while driving over the intervening wide expanse of country, he 

 observed these birds and their bowers, in nearly every favourable situation. 



The egg, or rather portion of an 

 egg-shell, found on Ash Island, 

 at the mouth of the Hunter 

 River, in 1861, and formerly 

 attributed by me ■■ to this species, 

 is undoubtedly that of the Regent 

 I iower-bird. 



Mr. John MacGillivray for- 

 warded, among others, authentic 

 eggs of the Spotted Bower-bird, 

 said to have been taken near 

 Grafton, in September, 1864. 

 During my \isit to the Clarence 

 River District, in 1898, I was 

 struck with the character of the 

 country and the vegetation from 

 the river's mouth to the head of 

 navigation as being one of the 

 very last places I should have expected to have met with this species. Mr. George Savidge, 

 of the Upper Clarence, has also favoured me with the following note: — "I have never 

 seen or heard of the Spotted Bower-bird being found on the northern coastal rivers. Some 

 years ago I made a very fair representative collection of the birds frequenting tlie Clarence and 

 Bellinger River Districts, but I never saw it, or met with any person that had, although I have 

 often made inquiries from those who take an interest in our birds. Xone of the Clarence River 

 or Orara River natives I have questioned have seen it, and I ha\e been a keen observer of 

 bird-life here for nearly twenty years." Nevertheless it is possible that MacGillivray, who 

 ■was a careful observer, did obtain the eggs in the neighbourhood, probably during a period of 

 excessive drought inland, when many species are driven to the coastal districts, for of recent 

 years Mr. Savidge has observed and obtained at Copmanhurst, two well-known plain-frequenting 

 species, the Bustard ( Eupodotis australis), and the Chestnut-eared P'inch ( Taiiiopygia casfaiwtis ), 

 as well as procured the nests and eggs of the latter. I met with the Spotted Bower-bird about 

 one hundred and fifty miles due west of Copmanhurst, but, if it is found at all in the northern 

 coastal districts east of the Xew England Range, it can only be regarded as a rare or accidental 

 visitor. 



SPOTTED BOWER-BIRD. 



•Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., (Second Series). Vol. i., p. 1158 (1886). 



