THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



Narrow-leaf, and in times of drought they are cut down for the 

 cattle to feed on, which they do greedily. The bark, which is 

 very hard, is first removed ; but the rest of the tree, being formed 

 of a soft pithy substance, is all eaten. The nest and four eggs 

 of a Collared Butcher Bird, Cracticus torquatus, were found near 

 the top of a slender sapling close to the Bottle Tree. These 

 birds were fairly numerous, their melodious note being frequently 

 heard both in the scrub and forest land, and their nests were 

 found on several occasions, generally near the top of small trees. 

 In a thick bush we found the nest and egg of the Black-tailed 

 Thickhead, Pachycephala nielanurus, but the structure was so 

 lightly built that the egg was in great danger of falling out. We 

 also went to a range of rocky hills about 10 miles away, but did 

 not find any snakes. We secured, in holes in the high lemon- 

 scented gum trees, a clutch of two eggs of the Scaly-breasted 

 Lorikeet, Trichoglossus chlorolejndopus ; two eggs of the Blue 

 Mountain Lorikeet, Trichoglossus Novce-Hollandice ; two eggs of 

 the Yellow-crested Cockatoo, Cacatua galerita ; and two nests 

 with three eggs of the Friar Bird, Philemon comiculatus, which 

 latter build their open nests near the ends of the branches of the 

 acacia trees, and are consequently often difficult to get at. On 

 our way back we found another nest of the Butcher Bird, 

 Cracticus torquatus, with three eggs. In the garden a pair of 

 Long-billed Honeyeaters, Glyciphila occularis, had built their 

 pretty nest not more than two feet from the ground ; it was lined 

 with the fluff off the buds of the grape vine, a very soft substance. 

 When their nest was taken they at once started building another 

 at the top of a tall orange tree, to be well out of harm's way, and 

 were sitting on two eggs at the time I left. In an old nest of a 

 Pomatostomus, Pomatostomus rubiaJus, a pair of Blue-faced 

 Honeyeaters, Entomyza cyanolis, had made their home. They 

 had enlarged the entrance, and for their nest used thin strips of 

 bark, lining it with grass, and covering up the soft lining of the 

 Pomatostomus. Their eggs were taken on 8th August, and a 

 second clutch of eggs of the same species of bird was taken out 

 of the same nest on 13th September ; as the eggs were differently 

 marked to the first set, they were probably laid by another pair of 

 birds. Many birds, notably Hawks, will often use other old 

 nests to build in or on in preference to starting new ones, and 

 the nests of Black Ducks have often been found in deserted 

 Crows' nests. We were enabled to visit a swamp in the neigh- 

 bourhood, and when wading about in it, waist deep, came across 

 a snake, Dipsas fusca, climbing up one of the dead trees. It 

 was wonderful to see how it took advantage of every little 

 excrescence on the bark to cling to. We were glad it did not 

 tumble into the water, where we would have been at a dis- 

 advantage, as we could only move slowly on account of the 



