L 1st April 



The greyish mottled plumage matched the dark, drab grey of 

 the box bark admirably, and the bird took no notice of my 

 presence until, after exposing the plate, I knocked the tree, when 

 it immediately took to flight. Though often very reluctant to 

 fly, the Podargus does not appear to be nearly so stupid in 

 the day time as most other nocturnal birds, possibly owing to 

 its being accustomed to slee{)ing in exposed positions, often in 

 sunlight, instead of in the dim liollows so much frequented by 

 other night birds. 



Though usually found singl\- (jr in pairs, last season I was 

 much interested to observe four Frogmouths — all apparently 

 adult — sitting together on a limb. Probably, however, it was a 

 family grouj) — t\vO adults, two grown young. 



The nest, which is scarcely more substantial than that of a 

 pigeon, is composed of more (jr less fine twigs placed on a 

 broken limb or in the fork of a horizontal bough, or some similar 

 position, often at no great height from the ground. Here, with 

 no other lining, two, or rarely three, large white eggs are laid. 

 When brooding, the bird will often sit motionless, with its body 

 almost flat along a horizontal limb; and, as the nest is also very 

 inconspicuous, the bird is hard to see. Though the female sits 

 fairly closely, a knock on the limb of the tree usually causes her 

 to fly ; sometimes, however, the bird will not leave until actually 

 pushed off the nest. 



It was on the evening of December 30th, 1921, while roaming 

 in the bush on the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges — one of 

 my happy hunting grounds — that the dog nosed something near 

 the ground, and passed on. Investigation revealed a young Pod- 

 argus apparently patiently waiting "for something to turn up." 

 It was a rather curious fact that the dog — a big deerhound — 

 though a fierce hunter, learnt, quite of his own accord, never 

 to harm a bird, and, in fact, often accompanied me when 

 photographing. 



Placing a box, which happened to be handy, over the young 

 bird, I left him for the night. 



Next morning, December 31st, T returned, and spent about 

 two hours exposing the accompanying four plates on this 

 youngster. The morning was bright and warm, and he was 

 very, very sleepy. Sitting sideways on the limb, wings drooping 

 on either side of the perch, he matched the dull bark of the 

 Eucalyptus beautifully. 



In color he was of a dull grey on head and body, mottled with 

 darker grey and fading to black .on the wings. His beak was 

 very .short and broad, and his mouth large. Though he was 

 actually very small in body, he was covered with a great amount 

 of feathers, being peculiarly light, and little more than a fluffy 

 ball. When he slept he would hold his head up and gradually 

 his eyes and beak would fade away amongst the feathers until 



