174 Mr. A. A. Leycester's Excursion 



after day passed away, and we could only discover two old nests 

 and another being built. The male bird belonging to the latter 

 we shot, not being aware at the time of the nest being close by. 

 After having been out nearly six weeks, I began to despair of 

 ever finding the eggs ; but about a week before my excursion 

 must terminate (as I had business to attend to in Sydney), 

 having been out all day, and returning to camp with Davy 

 hungry and wet through, Davy suddenly cried out, and invited 

 my attention to a hen of the Menura flying off from her nest. 

 Davy made a rush to get up to it, but fell back, being in too 

 great a hurry. The difficulty was how to reach the nest, it 

 being situated on a ledge of a projecting rock thirty feet above 

 us; but Davy, taking it coolly, managed with great skill to get 

 up within twelve feet of it. He then directed me to cut him a 

 pole fifteen feet long, which I did, and handed it up to him. 

 The foot of this he stationed on the ledge he was standing upon, 

 and having placed the other end against the rock where the 

 nest was, in less than a minute was up to the nest, and to our 

 great delight pulled out an egg. I directed him to replace it 

 and come down, as I wanted to find out whether any more 

 would be laid, and we then returned to camp, much delighted 

 with our day's work. Having shot plenty of game, we had a 

 good supper. Davy received a new blanket, a pound of to- 

 bacco, and a bottle of grog (which was the reward promised to 

 whoever discovered the egg first), and was in high glee all the 

 evening. On the third day after this discovery we returned to 

 the nest. The hen was on it, and I shot her as she flew ofl*. 

 Davy ascended as before. There was still only one egg, which 

 he lowered down in a small bag, making use of his opossum 

 belt which he wore round his waist as a string to let it down. 

 A short time afterwards the dog found the male bird and treed 

 him, upon which Davy shot him. 



On blowing the egg, I found that it had been sat upon about 

 a week. The old birds I stufi'ed, together with many others, 

 which are now on their way to England along with the egg*. 

 We remained a few days longer at the camp, and then returned to 



* This egg is now in Mr. Gould's collection, and will be figured, along 

 with that of Menura superba (which it greatly resembles), in his forth- 

 coming work on the Oology of Australia. — Ed. 



