INSESSORES. 241 



Caley's short but valuable ' Notes on the Birds of New 

 South Wales,' he says, "This bird appears to me to be a 

 rare one ; at least T do not recollect having ever seen any 

 other specimen than the present. I met with it on the 

 15th of October, 1807, in a thick brush or underwood, the 

 resort of the great Bat," at Cardunny, a place about ten 

 miles to the north-east of Paramatta. The fact of the colony 

 having at that early date been but little explored will readily 

 account for Caley's opinion of the rarity of this bird ; but had 

 he visited the dense brushes of Illawarra, the Liverpool range, 

 and the Hunter, he would have found it in considerable 

 numbers. 



Although many of its habits closely resemble those of the 

 Rhijoiditra albiscapa, they are, as the greater length of its 

 legs would indicate, far more terrestrial. It runs over the 

 ground and the fallen logs of trees with great facility. While 

 thus engaged, and particularly when approached, it constantly 

 spreads and displays its beautiful tail, and evinces a great 

 degree of restlessness. It is always found in the most secluded 

 parts of the forest, no portion of which appears to be too 

 dense for its abode. 



I never met with it in Tasmania or on the islands in Bass's 

 Straits, neither do I recollect having seen it in South Australia ; 

 and it has not yet been found in Western Australia or on 

 the north coast, in which latter locality it is represented by 

 the Bhipidura dryas. 



I had but little opportunity of observing it during the 

 breeding-season, but frequently found its deserted wineglass- 

 shaped nest, which bore a general resemblance to that of 

 B. alhiscapa. In one of them I found a single egg, which 

 may be thus described : — Ground-colour stony-white, speckled 

 all over with pm'ple and yellowish-brown spots and markings, 

 disposed so numerously as to form a zone at the larger end. 

 It is about eight lines long and six broad. 



The sexes are precisely alike in colour ; and their only 



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