IIarvev, Bird Notes from Mackay, Q. 



41 



forest country, and is plentiful all over tlie district. Odd nests 

 of this species, containing either eggs or young, are to be found 

 all the year round, but the majority nest between the months of 

 December and March. The nest is composed chiefly of grass 

 stems and Melaleuca bark and lined with horsehair. The male 

 bird assists with the building, but his plain little mate does the 

 lion's share. He also takes part in feeding the young ones, 

 although in one case that came under our notice the young birds 

 were lieing fed by two females. When the young are very small 

 they "are fed almost exclusively on " lace- wings," but as they 

 become stronger cicadas and other large insects are preferrecl. 

 Hearing a great commotion among the Wrens one day, we pro- 

 ceeded to the spot and found a pair excitedly pulling their nest 

 to pieces and making a great fuss about it. The nest contained 



Male Red-backed Wren (Malityus cyuentalns) Jeeding young with Cicada. 



I'HOTO. IIY \V. G. AND V. C. HAnVKT. 



a full-grown young one, which had become Iwpelessly entangled 

 in the horsehair lining of the nest — so much so that we were 

 engaged for more than half an hour releasing it. The Wren is a 

 favourite foster-parent of the Narrow-billed Bronze-Cuckoo, and 

 is also imposed upon by the Square-tailed Cuckoo, as the fol- 

 lowing extract from our note-book will show : — On the evening 

 of i8th February, 1914, as we were returning home after a day's 

 work in the paddock, we found a nest of the Red-backed Wren, 

 which contained an incomplete clutch of Wren's eggs. Next 

 morning we inspected the same nest on our way out to work at 

 about 6.30 a.m., and found that one of the Wren's eggs had been 

 removed and an egg of the Square-tailed Cuckoo had been placed 

 in the nest. We are quite certain that the Cuckoo must have 



