4i8 



/VESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



retreats — notably to Gippsland, where from trees and scrub in certain 

 favoured localities in summer or winter, in wet weather or drj'. from 

 sunrise to sunset, may be heard the incessant tinkling voices of scores 

 of birds. In no place I have ever visited arc the Bell Birds more 

 numerous than along the wooded slopes and dark gullies on the 

 northern shores of Lake King. 



On the subject of the departiu-e of Bell Birds, Mr. Isaac Batey, of 

 Sunbury, writing to " Tlie Australasian," states: — "As regards birds 

 that have left here one was the Bell Bird with its clear, metallic, 

 ringing notes. This delightful little bird was very numerous on all 

 the creeks years ago, and gradually dwindled awav till there were only 

 six of them left down the river, nine miles from our house. Tliis was 

 in 1854, when those ' Last of the Mohicans ' one day came flying up 

 stream, and we boys remarked, ' It is good-bye to the Bell Birds,' a 

 supposition that proved quite correct, as I have not seen a single one 

 of them since on the whole length of Jackson's Creek." Mr. Batey 

 was inclined to the belief that the coming of the Butcher Bird, which 

 he said amved from a westerly point about 1850, and was unknown 

 in the district before, had sometliing to do with the clearance of the 

 Bell Birds. 



We are aware that if the breeding grounds of birds are interfered 

 with the birds will desert the place. Tliis is, I fancy, the case with 

 the Bell Birds. They breed near the ground in low scrub and saplings 

 underneath their particular food trees. Therefore, when the country 

 became stocked, cattle roamed and camped in these sequestered 

 avenues, and so being disturbed, the delightful birds departed. 



At Metung, on Lake King, I was encamped for ten days or a 

 fortnight, when the majority of the Bell Birds appeared, to have nested 

 very early. In the middle of October, 1881, I found all the season's 

 birds fully-fledged and flying with their respective parents. I could 

 not find a single nest containing eggs, although I found a great number 

 of old nests, sometimes two or more in a bush. Any site seemed to be 

 chosen for the nest, from scnib and bushes twelve feet high down to 

 the common bracken fern. Some of the nests were the crudest and 

 simplest of all Honeyeaters I am acquainted with, being constiaictod of 

 just sufficient materials to ensiu-e the safety of the eggs, and suspended 

 by the rim to any convenient twig. The nests are sometimes patched 

 and interwoven with portions of moss and Uchen. 



Tlic same season, Mr. R. A. Poole, who lived in the locality, secured 

 for me several clutches of the second broods, also some of the earlv ones 

 the following season, which were originally described before the Field 

 Natin-alists' Club of Victoria. 



From some interesting observations on the Bell Bird sent to " The 

 Australasian," Febniary, 1894, by a con-espondent (" A.J.B.") at 

 Metung, I extract the following : — " Tliey make their nests usually in 

 the fronds of the bracken fern, or in the low dogwood scrub, making 

 little attempt at concealment. I think the Bell Birds must lose a lot 

 of their eggs and voving ones through snakes, as I have seen dozens of 

 empty nests tilted over on the one side as though the snake had sup- 



