270 Jackson, Discovery of the Female Rufous Scrub-Bird. [,.,^''^"I,.ii 



old dead scrub trees tliey often place their head flat up against 

 the tree, no doubt " listening " to hear if any grub or beetle, &c., 

 moved inside. We found that they usually did most of their hunt- 

 ing on the east side of the trunk of such trees, and on that side 

 they would have all the rotten bark removed. One day we got 

 a line view of one doing a dance on a horizontal branch of a 

 scrub tree about 45 feet from the ground. It danced and fed for 

 over an hour, and we watched it closely in case it was a female 

 and had a nest. With the field-glasses I could plainly see the colour 

 of the plumage to be that of a female, yet the bird could very 

 easily have been a yearling male, therefore in immature plumage, 

 resembling the female. It would dance for a while, then render 

 its unmusical screeching call a few times, and proceed " levering " 

 off loose, dead bark from the trees, and collecting beetles, &c. 

 It is wonderful how quickly its long curved bill can do this 

 work. Pieces of bark measuring 10 inches long by four inches 

 across fell beside us while the bird was at work overhead. Its 

 dance is remarkable ; the wings are opened wide and brought 

 over well in front of the head, and here they are hit one against 

 the other. The sound produced by the wings when this dance 

 is in progress can be heard fully 200 feet away, if no wind is 

 blowing in the direction at the time. When the wings w^ere 

 brought over in front of the head the bird kept rocking from 

 one side to the other, with its head rather well thrown back. 

 The rocking started slowly, and gradually got faster and faster. 

 When feeding it would suddenly stop and go on dancing. After 

 we had watched the liird carefully for an hour it flew away 

 through the scrub. 



While Mr. O'Reilly and I were standing on a great mass of 

 fallen trees and debris in the scrub one day, listening to and 

 watching an Atrichorms, our attention was attracted every few 

 moments by a sound of water splashing beneath us to the left, 

 and we found that a handsome male Rifle-Bird was bathing on 

 the shady side of a big tree. On examination we found that the 

 water was in an oval portion or natural pocket of the tree, be- 

 tween two spurs or big roots. The cavity measured about 10 

 inches long by about 4J inches wide, and was oval in shape. The 

 water was 2-|- inches deep, and 2 inches down from the top of 

 the cavity. It is remarkable how long water will remain in these 

 solid cavities, or cups, in scrub trees. As we stood on the pile 

 of fallen trees, we counted 9 " dips" that the lovely bird had in 

 Ills little bath, and, although ^^•e were fully 30 feet away, we 

 could plainly hear him splashing, and each time he had a " dip " 

 he flew up on to a vine close by, about 4 feet from the ground. We 

 got a splendid view of him each time, cleaning and combing his 

 gorgeous feathers with his long curved bill. \\'hen he flew away 

 a handsome male Satin Bower-Bird visited the bathing hollow for 

 a drink, also several small birds. No doubt, during such a dry 

 time as then existed, very few trees would contain water in the 

 pockets or cavities near their roots, as thc^ one under notice did. 



