20O NESrS AXD AGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



bower of the bird, not like the edifice of the Satin Bird, which is closed 

 on the top, but open. A cartful of bones* — the vertebrae of sheep pre- 

 dominating — pieces of glass, unripe wild fruit, even a shilling, sometimes 

 betray the entrance of the bower. 



" While bathing one afternoon in M'Intyre Creek, half-a-mile from the 

 scrub, I observed a Bower Bird flying with a catci-pillar in its bill. After 

 dressing, I followed in the direction, and found its nest high in a tea-tree 

 (Melaleuca) over the water, and, procuring a ladder, beheld two young 

 in the nest. Eventually I took the nest and young home, feeding the 

 young for two months, as long as the season lasted, but at last they died. 



" At the same place (Whitstone) I again got a nest with two eggs. 

 December, 1874. The nest represents small sticks, like that of a pigeon, 

 but lined with grass, &c." 



When Mr. Lau was returning to his fatherland, this particular nest 

 and eggs foimd a secure resting-place in the beautiful collection of 

 Mr. D. Le Souef, at the Royal Park, Melbourne. 



About the end of October, 1877, while searching for specimens along 

 a billabong of the River Darling, not far from Wentworth, New South 

 Wales, I found a nest, about twenty feet from the ground, near the top 

 of a red-gum f Eiicdli/ptii-iJ sapling in a belt of timber. A bird (probably 

 the hen) was sitting, and did not leave until I had climbed close to it. 

 The nest was loosely composed of sticks and twigs, and lined inside with 

 finer twigs and gi-ass, and contained one fresh egg, the most remai-kable 

 for beauty and the wonderful character of its markings that it has ever 

 been my fortune to find. 



A nest of the Spotted Bower Bird was pointed out to me, from which 

 a pair of beautiful eggs was taken on the 14th November, 1894. The nest 

 was the usual frail stnicture, built at the height of about thirty feet from 

 the groiuid, near the top of a pine tree (('nlUstri^ >. The tree was situated 

 about two hundred yards from a dwelling on Neimur Ci'eek, Riverina. 

 and was discovered by one of the lads tracking the bird while canying 

 a twig to consti-uct its nest. The eggs, which are of a light-coloured type, 

 are now in the collection of Mr. Joseph Gabriel, Abbotsford, Victoria. 



The Spotted Bower Bird occasionally lays three eggs. Mr. R. 

 Macfarlane, formerly of the Mallee Cliffs station, New South Wales, 

 found a nest containing three eggs in a needle-bush (Halea). Wliile the 

 specimens awaited a favom-able opportunity to be sent to Melbourne for 

 my collection, the station cook, it is supposed, took a fancy to them, for 

 they somehow mysteriously disappeared. Again, Mr. W. L. Hutton, 

 writing to me from Lessington, near Bourke, says : — " I saw three nests 

 of the Bower Bird last season (1895), one of which had three eggs in it." 

 In Queensland, Mr. W. B. Barnard found on 12th December, 1897, 

 an exceedingly handsome set of three eggs, now in my collection. 

 The following is Mr. Barnard's field note concerning them : — " I was 

 travelling with a mob of cattle, and wliile coming tlirough Moura run 

 I foimd the nest in a sandal-wood tree, about fifteen feet from the ground. 

 I could see the eggs through the nest from beneath. The old bird seemed 



* Mr. Chas. McLennan at one bower in the Mallee district of Victoria counted no 

 less than 1,320 bones. — A. J. C. 



