A'LS/S AW hUGS Ul- iWSTRALlAN BIRDS. 



267 



human being bad forestalled ine, and came to the conclusion that the 

 culprits were bush rats, which abounded in that part of the country. 

 The next nest 1 chanced to find building was in dense scnab close to 

 Peai-ce's Crock, Richmond River district. The nest was a foot or two 

 from the ground, and placed in a bunch of lawyer (Calamus) canes. 

 Retiu-ning xn a few days I found the nest occupied by a pair of eggs : 

 I imniecUately thought of bush rats, aud forthwith removo<l the 

 beautiful specimens. Near the s;vme locaUty I found another nest 

 containing eggs of the usual bluish-white tint, but devoid of the 

 characteristic miukings. 



The following interesting note, by A. J. B. (Metuug, Victoria), 

 appeared in " The Australasian,'' 16th June, 1894 ; " The Coach-whip Bird 

 ( I'sophodes crepitans) cannot be classed as a rare bird, for it is found 

 iu all the gullies in South-east Gippsland and in the Bass Riinges, and 

 no doubt in manj' other places where suitable food can be found. At 

 early morn it may lie seen out on the edge of the gullies, running up 

 and down the moss-covered supplejacks, which look like giant ropes 

 stretclied from tree to tree, or upon any logs that arc close by. Its 

 favoiuite place is a leaning tree denuded of its limbs ; on this it will 

 play for an hour, limning and dancing ba^'kward and forward at times, 

 with its crest up, uttering the peculiar cry of the stock whip, which is 

 finished by another bird, who calls out ' pit-wit-wee.' So smartly is 

 this flourish given that it almost defies detection, aud any casual 

 obsei'\'er would think it was done by one bird.* The nest of the Wliip 

 Bird is very hard to find, and although the birds are fairly plentiful 

 here, I have only succeeded iu getting two of their curiously-marked 

 eggs. I have wasted many hoiu's lying in the scrub watching a pair 

 that I thought was building, but without success. It was whilst 

 watdiing the birds that 1 first found out that the cry was made by 

 two of them. Since then I have noticed it dozens of times. I do not 

 .say that one bird cannot make the note, but having often only heard 

 them crack the whip makes me tliiuk that it wants two birds to coni- 

 ])lete the call. The Wliip Bird is very shy, and rarely takes to fUght, 

 running through the scrub Like a Lyre Bird, which it greatly resembles 

 in many of its habits. After its morning s airing it buiies itself in the 

 deep shades of the myrtles, and beyond an odd call or two is heard no 

 more until the day begins to wane. ' 



My venerable friend, Mr. Hermann Lau, funiishes some truthful 

 and valuable remarks concerning the Coach-whip Bird in South 

 Queensland. He writes : — " Of all the feathered tribe which carry on 

 a happy existence in the weeds among the thicket of everlasting gi-een 

 this lively customer makes itself most conspicuous with its odd shrilly 

 note. It strikes the naturalist when he hears this soimd that he is 

 entering the threshold of sanguine expectation. Wherever dense scrub 

 presents itself the bii'd is there, but such vegetation neai- the sea coast 

 is its favourite haunt. Seldom a bird roves, it is always to be found 



* I always thought the call notes were uttered by the same individual until one 

 day in the ranf;es I crawled between a pair of birds. What appeared to be the 

 male gave on one hand the notes ending in the crack, and they were rapidly 

 answered on the other liand by the female in a sharp, short double whistle 



