52 PTILOSORHYSCHID.E. 



but no one of ray party has seen the birds."" The expeditions these two gentlemen accompanied, 

 it will be observed, were made many years after the types of C. nuchalis were described. 



In their description oi Halcyon madeayi, which is the next but one preceding that of Clilnmy- 

 dodera miihalis, ^Messrs. Jardine andSelby afford a clue from whom the types of the latter species 

 were obtained. They write: — "This beautiful species IH. madeayi), with some of the subjects 

 on our following plates, have lately been added to the collection of the Linnean Society by the 

 zeal and industry of Alexander Macleay, Esq., who though ad\anced in years, and far distant, 

 remains still indefatigable in promoting the welfare of the Society where he so long and 

 faithfully performed the duties of Secretary.'" It may not be out of place to mention that the 

 late Hon. Alexander Macleay, F.R.S., F.L.S., was selected by the Earl of Bathurst to proceed 

 to Xew South Wales as Colonial Secretary in 1825. He was devotedly attached to Science, 

 and was a member of the Committee of the Australian !\Iuseum from its first commencement 

 in 1836 until the time of his decease in 1848. 



Consequent upon the discoveries made during,' the late Sir (jeorge Grey's journey in 

 North-western Australia in 1838, and the survey and exploration of the coast of Northern 

 and North-western Australia by Captain Lort Stokes, in H.M.S. "Beagle" in the same 

 year, the fact was ultimately established that this species is an inhabitant of the Northern 

 and North-western portions of the Australian Continent. 



Modern research has proved that it is apparently distributed throughout all the coastal 

 districts of North-western and part of Northern Australia. Collecting on behalf of the Trustees 

 of the Australian Museum, Mr. Alexander Morton procured specimens at Yam Creek, near 

 Port Essington; the late Mr. Edward Spalding also obtained it near Port Darwin; and recently 

 Mr. E. Olive secured its nests and eggs on the Katherine River. .\t Cambridge Gulf, M. Octave 

 Le Bon succeeded in netting live birds. Lower down the coast, at Derby, the late Mr. T. H. 

 Bowyer-Bower, in 1886, obtained several specimens. Inland from this place, at the junction 

 of the Fitzroy and Margaret Rivers, Mr. G. .\. Keartland, while a member of the Calvert 

 Exploring Expedition in 1896-7, also secured this species; and from the \\'estern Australian 

 Museum, Perth, specimens have lately been received that were obtained at Broome, Roebuck 

 Bay. the farthest south it has, yet been recorded. 



Mr. Keartland, who met with this species in North western Australia, writes to me: — ■ 

 "The peculiar notes of the Great Bower-bird were heard along the Fitzroy River, from Derby 

 to the Margaret River. Soon after reaching the former river, in November, I secured a 

 young one, and on mentioning the matter to several gentlemen at the camp, they informed 

 me that a pair had been taken from a nest by a black boy a few weeks previously. This species 

 is very fond of bathing, and will roll in the water until its feathers are thoroughly soaked ; 

 most of the specimens were obtained at the horse-trough near the well, where they came 

 frequently to drink and bathe. They are very tame, and easily shot. Their chief food is the 

 small black native fig, so common in North-western Australia. These birds are seldom seen in 

 company except at their bowers or play-houses, which are formed by spreading a layer of fine 

 twigs for a space of about three feet across which two parallel walls of twigs are constructed 

 with their tops meeting so as to form an avenue. The walls of one I measured were three 

 feet in length by fifteen inches in height. Througli this bower, and all around the structure, 

 large quantities of bleached bones, pieces of glass, quartz, tin, and bright coloured feathers are 

 scattered. The bowers are usually formed under the shelter of spreading bushes, but near the 

 Margaret River one I saw was constructed inside an old native wurlej'. Dr. A. M. House, 

 who has taken photographs of the bowers, writes: — ' My black-boy, who is more intelligent 

 than most nati\es, says these birds lay about October, and that the nests are built in a 

 Bauhinia, and sometimes in a MtlaUica.' This bears out what Mr. Blyth told me, who said 

 that some time ago he saw the Bower-bird on its nest in a Bauhini:! tree near the racecourse." 



