SCENOPIEKTKS. 



415 



friLjhtened off the bird would return to the nest within a minute or two, so I hunted her about 

 fifteen yards away, and then shot her. I was now satisfied, for after nearly two months search 

 in all directions I had discovered the nest and ef,',s;s of Newton's Bower-bird. Knowing now 

 where to look for the nests, it was only a matter of detail to search for and find others." 



Scenopoeetes dentirostris. 



'|(i(.)'|'H-i:iLLEl> MDWKK-BIEiD. 



\'0L. I., P. OS. 



Scenopiieti's dfiilirosiris, North, Abstr. Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, p. iii. (27th Nov. 1908) ; iil , 

 Vict. Nat, Vol. XXV., p. 1G.5 (1909). 



|In also e.xhibited at the same meeting of the l_,innean Society of New South Wales, on the 

 J- 25th November, igoy, the nest and eggs of the Tooth-billed Bower-bird, as well as the 

 female shot near the nest. The first nest of Scenopieetfs dcntit'ostris was found in the scrub about 



five miles from b^velyn and 

 thirty miles from A.therton, 

 North-eastern Queensland, 

 on the 7th November, 190S, 

 by Mr. G. Sharp. The nest 

 is an open, shallow, frail 

 structure, formed through- 

 out of twigs, coarser ones 

 below, and finer ones above 

 as a resting-place for the 

 eggs; it is most flimsy and 

 loosely built, and resembles 

 a nest of one of the smaller 

 Pigeons, and averages ex- 

 ternally five inches in 

 diameter by two inches in 

 depth. It was found in a 

 small thick-jy foliaged tree, 

 about sexenteen feet from 

 the ground, and in the densest part of the scrub. The nest contained two eggs, which are oval 

 in form, the shell being very finely granulate, lustrous, and of a uniform creamy-brown colour, 

 resembling very much the eggs of .Eliirwihis iiianilosus, but of a more distinct brownish hue. 

 They measure ; — Length (A) 1-63 x i'i2 inches; (13) i'64 x ri inches. .Another set taken 

 on the same day, in the same locality, measures: — Length (A) i-6S x 1-13 inches; (B) 1-63 x 

 i-i inches. 



The eggs are typically those of a Cat-bird, but the nest is the reverse, resembling that of 

 the Chlaiiiydodei'a, hut scantier, and formed of finer materials. Strictly spea.]<ir)Q Scciwparfcs is 

 not a Bower-bird, for it does not form a bower ; on the other hand it is not a true Cat-bird, for 

 it forms a play-ground, which those birds do not. .As I have stated before, it is a connecting 

 link between these two groups, and might be more aptly called a leaf-turner. There is nothing, 

 however, to be gained by altering the vernacular name by which it has been so long known, 

 that of the "Tooth-billed Bower-bird." 



Mr. Sharp's notes respecting the finding of these nests are as follows : — " On the 7th 

 November a blacldioy observed a Tooth-billed Bower-bird sitting on her nest, and called out 



XKST AND ECSCS OF THE TOOTH lULLED BOWER UIRD. 



