(";5 XESTS AXD EGGS Of AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



However, I think the actual proving of the interesting fact rests with 

 my fi-icnd, Mr. Hermann Lau. Let his own words attest. 

 " The Black Magpie (Corcorax) is gregaiious, hving in small troops of 

 fi'om five to fifteen, and is dispersed all over the Downs (Darling). 

 Together they commence biulduig one nest, its material being simply mud 

 mixed with dry grass, and often here and there I have found pebbles the 

 size of a marble embedded. If the soil from which the stuff is taken is 

 black, as on the plainy Downs, the nest shows that colour ; on the other 

 hand, if of a loamy character, as at WaiTOo and vicinity, the colour is 

 lighter. Tlie hiring consists in the first-named case of dry grass and in 

 the second mostly of opossum hair, on which five or six eggs rest. The 

 whole company attend to one nest, as I have proved, shooting two birds 

 from the nest, and seeing a third sitting next day. As soon as the 

 young are hatched, another nest gets built, and so on until Christmas 

 (commencing in September), so that tlu-ec broods may be expected. At 

 Warroo, September, 1879, I sent my black man up a tree to fetch me a 

 nest with the complement of eggs. The nest weighed 7| lbs.'' 



With regard to the nesting of the Chough, there still remain two 

 important points to be settled : — What is the proportion of male and female 

 birds to one family or nest ? and. Do the females lay each one or 

 more eggs? 



An exceedingly large nest of this remarkable species taken in the Swan 

 Hill district, 1893, by Mr. Robert Hall, of the Field Naturalists' Club, 

 weighed no less than 9 lbs. 6 ozs. 



It may not be generally known that the Chough is, at seasons, a 

 nuisance to farmers. A coiTespondent in the Mangalore district, Victoria, 

 informs me these birds give some trouble in the newly-sown fields by 

 pulling up grain just as it is genninating. 



Breeding months, August to December. 



FAMILY— PARADISEID^ ; BIRDS OF PARADISE. 



Sub-family : Epimachin^. 



54- — Ptilorhis paradisea, Swainson. — (363) 

 RIFLE BIRD. 



Figure. — Gould : Birds of Australia, fol., vol. iv.. pi. loo 



Refsrence. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. iii., p. 154. 



Previous Description of Eggs. — Campbell; Victorian Naturalist (1897). 



Geographical Distribution. — South Queensland and New South Wales. 



Xest. — Somewhat bulky, outwardl)' constnicted chieflv of green stems 

 and fronds of a chmbing fern (Polypodium ronfluens), with a few other 

 broad dead leaves at the base, ornamented roimd the rim with portions of 

 shed skins from the Carpet Snake (Mnrelia rariegnfn ), hned inside with 

 wire-hke rootlets and a few long, straight portions of twigs. Dimensions 

 over all, 8 inches to 9 inches by 4 inches in depth ; egg cavity, 4 inches 

 across by 2 inches deep. 



