SPHBNUHA. 247 



was forwarded to England to Mr. Gould, who ligured it in his "Supplement to the Birds of 

 Australia." For many years after but few of these birds had been obtained, and in 1883 

 evidently there was not an example of it in the British Museum when Dr. Sharpe prepared the 

 seventh \olunie of the "Catalo^'ue of Birds," for on page 106 he there transcribes Sir Frederick 

 McCoy's original description and his accompanying note giving the locality where the bird had 

 been procured. By some oversight, however. Dr. Sharpe has erroneously recorded the habitat 

 of this species as the " Interior of South Australia." The Rufous-headed Bristle-bird as yet 

 has only been found in the dense scrubs of south-western Victoria, and is probably more 

 abundantly distributed in the ranges and gullies of the Otway Forest than elsewhere. The 

 settlement of portion of this area, and the forming of marine resorts at Loutit and Apollo Bays, 

 has proved that this bird is by no means a rare species, although, like its congeners, it keeps 

 out of sight as much as possible, and its note is more often heard than the bird is seen. 



The preceding descriptions are taken from a fine pair of adult birds kindly lent by Mr. R. 

 Hall. The male was procured in the Heytesbury Forest, Victoria, on the ist April, i8g8, and 

 the female also in the same locality on the 14th August, 1899. 



Of three specimens in the Australian Museum collection, a young bird was obtained by 

 Mr. Broadbent at the same time as he secured the type, in December, 1858; and two not quite 

 fully plumaged specimens were recently received from j\Ir. H. E. Hill, procured at the mouth 

 of the St. George Ri\er, near Lome, in December, 1895. 



Relative to this species, Mr. Hill has kindly supplied me with his notes: — "In December, 

 1893, a party of us from the Gordon Technical College, Geelong, were camped on the St. George 

 River, near Lome. In the scrub along the \alleys we frequently heard a cry resembling the 

 noise made by a barrow-wheel that required oiling. As soon as it ceased it was answered 

 by a single note from the opposite side of the valley, following so close on the cry that at first 

 we took it to be made by a single bird. At Apollo Bay, in December of the following year 

 we heard a few of them, but obtained only a glimpse of a solitary example. At Lome again, 

 in December, 1895, the same party being out, we found it very abundant and tame compared 

 to what it was at our camp there two years before. This was probably due to the bush fires of 

 the previous season, destroying a great deal of cover on the St. George, enabling one to more 

 easily see these birds. During this trip the identity of what was hitherto known to us as the 

 'Cartwheel -bird,' was established by Mr. B. Purnell securing two fine specimens of Sphcnura 

 broadhoiti. Camped at Lome by myself, I found them very numerous in the gullies in January, 

 i8g8; and heard tliem in January of the following year at Dean's Marsh, but where they seemed 

 scarce. As you know, they are not too easy to get. I was watching one in a potato patch for 

 two hours without being able to get a shot at it. They hop about quite close to you if you lie 

 still — so close that if you fired at them you would blow them to bits, and directly they move 

 aw'ay a yard or two you lose sight of them in the scrub. On one occasion I saw a bird fly 

 across a small gully. Its flight was heavy and laboured, as one would expect from the 

 appearance of the bird." 



Two nests of this species, found in the thick undergrowth of gullies in the Otway Forest, 

 were oval-shaped structures somewhat loosely put together, with an entrance at the side, and 

 were made externally of dried plant-stems, wiry fibrous roots, and dried grasses, the inside 

 being almost exclusively lined with rootlets. These nests were found in November, and each 

 contained two fresh eggs. Two eggs now before me are of a dull purplish-white ground 

 colour, one specimen having numerous freckles and spots of purplish-brown evenly distributed 

 over the surface of the shell, and the larger end slightly tinged with slaty-grey; the other is 

 similar in colour, hut is more finely and thickly marked, and has a darker cap of confluent 

 markings on the larger end. These eggs are in form slightly swollen ovals, and are thin- 

 shelled. Length (A) 1-07 x 0-84 inches; (B) 1-09 x 0-85 inches. 



