CllLAMYDODEliA. 59 



State that tliey cannot find any authority for Dr. G. R. Gray's^^^ inclusion of the Ishmds of 

 Torres Strait in the habitat of this species. In the "Narrative of the Voyage of the Rattlesnake," 

 MacGiUivray does not mention meeting with this species, except at Cape York where he 

 obtained only a single specimen. In the Appendix to Volume II., p. 357, however, it is 

 included in the third column "devoted to the islands of Torres Strait, from Raine Islet to 

 Bramble Cay," as well as in its proper place in the second column, comprising "the remainder 

 of the north-eastern coast of Australia, from Lat. 17° 4-5' South as far northward as Cape York." 

 The inclusion of this species in the column devoted to the birds inhabiting the islands of Torres 

 Strait is probably a lapsus calami or a typographical error, and is doubtless the source from 

 whence Dr. Gray derived his authority for recording it as an inhabitant of these islands. 



Relative to this species, Mr. J. A. Thorpe writes as follows: — " While collecting on the Cape 

 York Peninsula, in 1867-8, I occasionally met with Chlaiuydodcra cervinivcntris in the immediate 

 vicinity of Somerset, opposite Albany Island, and also near the mouth of the Jardine River 

 where it enters Endeavour Strait; a distance of thirty miles from the extreme point of the 

 Peninsula. The country there consists chiefly of wide belts of scrub, interspersed with open 

 narrow stretches of sandy soil covered with tall grass and a few scattered bushes. I found 

 two of their bowers in these open places, neither of them being far from the coast ; they were 

 formed of twigs, and averaged about two feet six inches in length, and the only decorations I 

 saw about them were a few shells, p;;bbles, and berries. These birds were by no means plentiful, 

 extremely shy, and frequented chiefly a vine growing luxuriantly in the scrubs and known as 

 the 'Native Grape.' This plant bears bunches of a small reddish-black edible fruit, on which 

 the Fawn-breasted Bower-bird chiefly subsists. During a stay of seventeen months in those 

 parts 1 only succeeded in obtaining about a dozen specimens." 



Mr. Bertie L. Jardine has kindly furnished me with the following notes: — "The Fawn- 

 breasted Bower-birds are permanent residents in the northern parts of the Cape York Peninsula, 

 over which they are fairly distributed but are nowhere numerous. They frequent scrubs growing 

 in soft sandy soil in the neighbourhood of the sea, and low brush bordering creeks and rivers. 

 Usually they are shy and retiring, and are met with in pairs, but sometimes they may be seen in 

 small companies from four to eight in number as they traverse the open parts of the forest in 

 search of food. While flying from tree to tree or running along the ground, over which they 

 pass with great rapidity, they occasionally utter a number of extraordinary notes in slow 

 succession. Among the brush-wood bordering the beautiful white sandy banks of the Jardine 

 River, I have found many of their artfully constructed bowers or playing-places. The walls of 

 these bowers or avenues are formed externally of thin sticks, and are beautifully lined inside 

 with very fine twigs. At both ends or entrances of these structures, for about two or three feet, 

 are a number of pieces of bleached bones, berries, leaves, shells, and portions of the smaller 

 Crustacea, etc., some of these decorations being also placed inside the bower. The bowers 

 average about three feet in length, eighteen inches to two feet in breadth, and from twelve to 

 fifteen inches in height. Just after day -break, and again about sunset, it is a very interesting 

 sight to watch these birds playing about the bower. They may be seen running through and 

 around the structure, with their primaries trailing along the ground, stopping now and again to 

 pick up a bone, feather, shell, or berry, while their companions are perched in the neighbouring 

 trees uttering all the time their peculiar notes. Well beaten paths from three to five inches in 

 width are made by the birds almost constantly running or chasing one another around the 

 bowers." 



A nest of this species, taken by Mr. Jardine from a fork in a large tea-tree, is a cup- 

 shaped structure, formed throughout of thin twigs, dried plant stalks, and has a quantity of 



■ Proc. Zool. Soc, 1858, p. 194. 



