^'°''i i6^''] Barrett, Birds of a Murray Island. lyy 



of a boomerang, is covered in parts with a prickly shrub locally 

 known as " native box thorn " ; here and there are small trees, 

 acacias and eucalypts, and some fine old red gums along the 

 water's edge, where rushes and grassy areas provide good cover 

 for snakes. The birds of this islet were not numerous, but some 

 were nesting, and interesting observations were made as I 

 rambled around with field-glasses and camera. 



In a space beneath a big clump of " box thorn " was the bower 

 of a jKiir of Spotted Bower-Birds {Chlamydera maculata). Mr. C. 

 Thompson, manager of the station, who is keenly interested in 

 birds, stated that the bower had been there for several years, but 

 had been shifted once a few yards. He had often seen the birds 

 at their playing-place, running through the bower and tossing 

 the bones, berries, and other objects about with beak or claws. 

 I was not so fortunate as my host, but had a good view of a male 

 Bower-Bird in a pepper-tree at the homestead. The collection 

 of bright objects at either end of the bower was fairly large, and 

 consisted principally of bits of weather-worn green and blue glass 

 (from bottles), which formed a kind of mosaic on the hard, dry 

 ground. There were a few glass stoppers from sauce bottles, a 

 piece of perforated zinc, numbers of bleached sheep-bones, one or 

 two green berries, twigs and leaves, an odd feather, and, in the 

 very centre of the bower, a large pellet of lead The bower itself 

 was neatly and strongly built, and an excellent example of the 

 architectural skill of Chlamydera maculata. 



It is asserted that Bower-Birds are doing much damage in the 

 orchards on some of the Murray blocks, and I was informed that 

 many had been shot. The birds were reported to be plentiful at 

 Piangil, and- a settler complained that they had carried off a 

 quantity of fencing staples which had been left along a line of 

 newly-sunk posts. I fear that, in the course of a few years, unless 

 measures are taken for their better protection, the Spotted Bower- 

 Birds will share the fate of the Mallee-Fowls {Leipoa ocellata) in 

 the Mallee country of Victoria. 



In a bush close to the Bower-Birds' playground on the Murray 

 islet a pair of Crested Pigeons [Ocyphaps lophotes) had a nest, 

 about three feet above the ground. When I flushed the female 

 the nest contained two eggs ; next morning one had hatched, 

 and a few hours later there were two chicks on the platform of 

 twigs. The parent birds were shy. A footstep a few yards from 

 the bush was sufficient to frighten the female, which went whirring 

 from the nest to a dead tree some distance away, where she would 

 remain perched while anyone was in the vicinity of her nursery 

 I tried on several occasions to photograph the brooding bird, but 

 in vain. The camera was placed at the side of the bush opposite 

 to the " avenue " approach to the nest, and was screened in 

 branches. Then I walked away ostentatiously, in full view of 

 the female perched in the dead tree. Hidden, I watched her 

 through the glasses, but she remained calmly on her perch — a still 

 figure on guard. Once or twice in the course of an hour the 



