A'J^srS AAD LGGS OJ- AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



'99 



small stripes or liair-liku liues of light-siuuua and umbur, as if paiulcd with 

 a camel-hair brush, iu every shape ajul sine round the shell, principally 

 zig-zagged latitudinally, but ofteu taking longitudinal and other dii-cctions ; 

 and, lastly, over these a few darker and lieavier stripes and smudges of 

 umber. Both ends of the eggs are comparatively free from markings. 

 Dimensions iu inches of a proper clutch: (1) 1-64 x 104, (2) 1-63 x 1-05, 

 (3) r55 X r04; a pah' \villi more of the yellowish-white groiuid, and with 

 both cuds much freer from markings, measures (1) 1-57 x 1-06, 

 (2) lo X 1-07. (Plate 9.) 



The eggs are very beautiful and most singular in appearance, resembUng 

 fine porcelain with hand-painted markings. 



Ohstrvatiuns. — The beautiful spotted Bower Bird is a dweller of the 

 diy interior provinces. 



In a Rivcrina timber-belt, how venerable and dark the cone-shaped 

 piues ( Vdl/ilrisJ appear, with every branch and branchlet, dead and 

 living, bedecked with ornamental lichens! Their sombre character is 

 reheved by the interspacing silvery, needle-hke foliage of hakea trees of 

 lower growth, bearing a crop of curiously-fashioned seed-balls; a species 

 of acacia with short stiff leaves, and with wood not unlike the West 

 Australian jam-wood for aroma, by its floral stores is cclebratuig " Yellow- 

 haii'ed September;" the quondoag tree ( Saritahim), whose pendulous 

 fohage chngs hke skirt-s about its dark rough stem, is also seen, besides 

 other dwarf trees called by lengthy botanical names; while all around the 

 rich, red ground, well-grassed, sparkles with the flowers of small white 

 immortelles, — such is the home of the Spotted Bower Bird as 1 saw it once in 

 spring. 



There has been some discussion as to who first found the genuine 

 eggs of the Spotted Bower Bird. I beUeve (and it is only my behef, 

 without any direct proof, and therefore I am open to correction) that some 

 of the earUer recorded finds, especially those ou the coast of the northern 

 portion of New South Wales, were none other than the eggs of the 

 Regent Bird {Sericulus melinus). These coastal scrubs are the stronghold 

 of the Regent Bird, whereas the Spotted Bower Bird, as I have stated, 

 seeks generally the diy and arid parts of the interior. I have also the 

 testimony of a keen observer in the former locality that the Spotted Bower 

 Bird is scarce there. Moreover, nothing would be easier, at first sight, 

 than to mistake a female Regent Bird for a Spotted Bower Bird when 

 flushed from the nest. Probably the fii-st discovered egg of the Spotted 

 Bower Biixl was obtained by JNli-. A. N. Foot, in Queensland, and was 

 cxliibited by Dr. G. Bennett, of Sydney, at a meeting of the London 

 Zoological Society, held 3rd June, 1873. 



Another of the first authenticated eggs discovered of the Spotted 

 Bower Bird was found by Mr. J. B. Wliitc, and described by Dr. Ramsay, 

 vide Proceedings of the Zoological Society, 1874. The same year (1874) 

 Mr. Hermann Lau discovered a nest of this Bower Bird near Whitstone, 

 South Queensland. I shall quote iiis original and interesting note; — 



" This bird makes for the fruit when it ripens in the garden, especially 

 the figs. The scnib, where it comes from, gi'ows on a sandy bottom in the 

 neighboiu-hood of the station. In tliis scrub I several times espied the 



