Birds of Queensland.



237



overhang and form a sort of eave to cast off rain or hail and keep all

within dry and snug. In some cases, however, the lower lip of the

entrance projects and the upper recedes, so that one can look down

into the egg-chamber; in these instances the structure appears

midway between a covered and an open nest.


The Spotted Diamond-Bird ( Pardalotus punctatus), or, in

ordinary parlance, the “ Ground Diamond,” may well be termed an

underground builder, for it burrows horizontally or in a very slightly

upward direction into the solid ground, and at the termination of

this burrow excavates an incubation chamber in which to rear its

brood. During the month of November Mr. H. C. Thompson and

myself explored the recesses of one of these miniature tunnels made

in the side of a hollow from which a gum-tree stump had been

removed, the soil being a fine white grit. The hole which marked

the entrance was about 6 in. below the general ground level, and the

tunnel went back about 12 in.—no light contract for a pair of tiny birds

measuring each very little more than 3£ in. total length, to excavate

so far in hard grit, with no tools but those of Nature’s providing.

At the end the burrow was enlarged to form a chamber, in which was

placed the spherical nest with small side entrance, formed of fine

strips of inner gum bark intermixed with a few very fine rootlets. In

this soft cradle reposed no fewer than five pure white eggs (the usual

clutch is four) of a somewhat rounded shape, heavily incubated; we

replaced them, and covered in the chamber as we had found it. The

male bird had left the burrow as we approached, showing that he

takes some part, at any rate, in the incubation.


(To be continued.)



BIRDS OF QUEENSLAND.*


We all know of the Cuckoo in the Old Country, writes a

Queensland correspondent, and even those of us who have not been

there have read of that bird’s lazy habits as regards nest-building—

how it takes advantage of another’s industry. But how many of us

know that we have a bird with us here which has similar habits ?



* From the London correspondent of the N. Queensland Register.



