250 White, Descriptions of two Nests and Eggs. [is^Aprii 



to be laid. The nests were placed at heights varying from 5 to 

 9 feet, and well hidden in the masses of leaves of the green suckers 

 growing from the bases of ringbarked coohbar and bibble box 

 trees (eucalypts). The nests and eggs closely resemble those of 

 Gerygone alhigularis, except that they are somewhat smaller." 



Notes on the Native^Hen (Tribonyx mortieri). 



By (Miss) J. A. Fletcher, Tasmania. 



The grassy flats along the banks of the South Esk and Macquarie 

 Rivers are favourite resorts of the Tribonyx, and to observe the 

 birds is somewhat easy, provided the observer remains quiet. The 

 Native-Hens appear to dread movement more than they do noise. 

 I remember a certain flat along the Esk with an area of about 10 

 acres. Except on the river frontage, this strip was bounded by 

 low, rocky, barren hills, with an anabranch of the river running in 

 a semicircle at their base. The creeklet had a great number of 

 water- weeds, reeds, and rushes growing in it. Here the Native- 

 Hens were present in great numbers at all periods of the year. 

 When disturbed they ran for shelter to the bracken ferns on the 

 hills. Very rarely they attempted to escape by crossing the river. 

 Presently a few of the older birds, presumably males, would return 

 and begin to eat the grass. By degrees the others also returned, 

 though there were always a few individuals ready to run at the 

 slightest movement. 



Several of these Native-Hens were very pugnacious, and chased 

 intruders from the particular patch of ground they considered to 

 be their own. They would run at the trespassing bird with head 

 held low and wings partly down, uttering at the same time a noise 

 resembling the grunt of a pig. At other times there would be a 

 general chorus of their '• saw-sharpening " call, the birds darting 

 backwards and forwards in an apparently senseless manner. I 

 have watched them crossing a river when wishing a new feeding 

 ground. Once 1 counted a dozen birds which had been feeding on 

 a low hill and were returning home. They swam one behind the 

 other, but appeared rather to " tread water " than to swim, and 

 to keep their bodies below the surface. 



Once I saw a Native-Hen try to escape observation by walking 

 beneath the water. Amid a bank of ferns I knew that a Tribonyx 

 had her nest. Below this bank was a hole in the river, 4 feet 

 deep, with a pebbly bottom. I stood on a log and with a long 

 stick probed the ferns above the nest. Instantly there was a 

 splash, and, looking down, I saw the bird sink to the bottom and 

 run along the river's bed up stream a little distance and then dash 

 out and race with full speed across the opposite flat. I jumped 

 down among the ferns, and, parting them to view the eggs, saw a 

 snake making its way slowly across the nest. I was soon back 

 on the log again. 



