.VESTS A.VD ECGS OF AVSTRALIAN BIRDS 207 



Next. — Open, cupshapcd ; composed of twigs, pieces of hark and moss, 

 and lined witli grass, &c. ; usually Iniilt near the ijiound (North). 



Eijyi!. — Clutch, most prohahly two ; vci-y like that of 6'. mnrulata in 

 coloui-, with the same peculiar linear markings crossing and rccrossing each 

 other all round ; but conlined more to tile larger end of the egg than is 

 usually the case in C. waruhita. A specimen of this egg in tlie Australian 

 Museum collection, taken at Cape York, measures 1-4 inch in length by 

 103 inch in breadth (North). 



OhservatiDiif. — As recorded by Gould, the discovery of this species is 

 due to John Macgillivray. who procured a specimen at Cape York, wliicii, 

 with its ciu-ious bower, wavS transmitted to the British Musexun. A ver^y 

 fine bower of these birds may be seen in the " group " collection at the 

 Australian Museum, Sydnej'. 



The Fawn-breasted Bower Bird is also found on the adjacent coast of 

 New Guinea, as well as on sonic of the intermediate islands in Toitcs 

 Strait, and may be recognised by tiie absence of the rose-pink frill on 

 the back of the neck, as worn by the males of the other members of this 

 interesting genus. Mr. Ma(gillivrav hinted that this bird was a mocking- 

 bird. 



Tlie bower above mentioned has its walls, which arc vei-y thick, nearly 

 upright, or but little inclining to each other at the top, so that the passage 

 through is very naiTow. It is formed of fine twigs, is placed on a ver}' 

 thick platfonn of thicker twigs, and is nearly four feet in length by about 

 the same in breadth, and eighteen inches high. Mr. Macgillivray found the 

 bower situated near the border of a scrub, which was not more than ten 

 feet high, growing on smooth sandy soil without grass. There were some 

 fresh berries and small land shells lying about the bower. 



167. — Tectonornis dentirostris, Ramsay. 

 TOOTH-BILLED BOWER BIRD. 



Figure. — Gould-Sharpe : Birds of New Guinea, vol. i., pi. 43. 

 Ri/erence.— Cat. Birds Brit. Miis.. vi., p. 394. 



Gengraphicnl Dhtrihution. — North Queensland. 



Nest and Eggs. — Undescribed. 



Ohse.rvatinns. — So far as is known the Tooth-billed Bower Bird is 

 restricted to the scrubs of Northern Queensland. Mr. Kendall Broadbent 

 writes : — •" This interesting species has been obtained by me on the Tully 

 River, twenty-four miles from Cardwell, at Cairns, at Herbert Gorge, and 

 on Sea View Range, as far above the level of the sea as the scnibs extend, 

 but always in the mountains, stray individuals only descending below 

 2,000 feet. 



