220 XESTS AXD EGGS Ol< AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



grasses; inside lined almost exclusively with rootlets (Noi-th). Usually 

 situated in tliick sci-ub near the ground. 



Eggs. — Clutch, two; sUghtly swollen oval in form; shell very tliin; 

 didl pui'plish-white gi'ouud-coloui, one specimen having numerous freckles 

 and spots of pui-phsh-brown evenly distributed over the siuface of the 

 shell, and the larger end shghtly tinged with slaty -gi-ey; the other is 

 similar in coloui", but is more finely and thickly marked, and has a darker 

 cap of confluent markings on the laiger end. Dimensions in inches ; 

 (1) 1-09 X -85, (2) 107 X -84 (North). 



Observations. — The Rufous Bristle Bird is a local species, being 

 restricted, as far as is yet known, to the dense forest scrubs between the 

 districts of Cape Otway and Portland Bay, Victoria. 



The original specimen of this Bristle Bird was shot by Mr. Kendall 

 Broadbent, Deccmbei', 1858, in a thick scrub, twenty -four miles from 

 Portland Bay, and presented by liim to the National Museum, Melbourne. 

 The director of that mstitution, the late Professor (afterwards Sir Frederick) 

 McCoy, returned the comphment by naming the new and interesting 

 species after its chscoverer. 



Mr. J. F. Mulder, Geelong, while scrub cutting in a gully at Bambra, 

 near Lome, on the 25th November, 1893, found a nest of this bird 

 containing young scarcely feathered. 



Mr. H. E. HiU, when camped near Lome during one Christmastide, 

 procui-ed a pair of birds, but was not fortunate in finding the nest. The 

 notes of the bird are described as resembling the noise produced 

 by the gi-ating of a cart-wheel on an ungreased axle. Mr. Hill states : — - 

 " When we first reached the St. George Valley, where we fixed 

 our camp, we noticed the gi-eat number of ' cart-wheel ' birds that 

 were calling on all sides. The whole time we were out they 

 seemed very plentiful, and whereas on previous trips we had never 

 been able to even get a sight of the bird, on this trip we not only 

 saw a number, but were fortunate enough to secure two — a male and a 

 female — both in fine condition. It tm'ns out to be tlie Rufous 

 Bristle Bird ( Spheiiura broadbenti, McCoy). We found afterwards that 

 fu-es had been through a great many of the gullies about the ranges duiing 

 the previous twelve months, and that the undergrowtn liad been in many 

 cases completely destroyed, so that the great abundance of the birds may 

 have been only apparent, the birds really having been driven nearer the 

 coast by the destruction of then- usual haunts. 



However, one of Mr. A. J. North's correspondents was fortunate 

 in discovering two nests in the thick undergi'owth of gulhes in the Cape 

 Otway forest. The nests were found during the month of November, 

 each containing two fresh eggs. 



