166 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. XXV. 



to clear up the mystery surrounding the nesting habits of both 

 this and the preceding species, and, as a collector in many parts 

 of Australia and New Guinea, no one was more likely to meet 

 with success. Having interests, too, in that part of Queensland, 

 the leisure to search for these nests and eggs, a knowledge of 

 how to treat and deal with aborigines, and ample means at his 

 command, were undoubted factors in his eventually securing the 

 nests and eggs of Newton's Bower-bird and the Tooth-billed 

 Bower-bird. 



At the same meeting of the Linnean Society of New South 

 Wales, on the 25th November, 1908, when exhibiting and 

 describing the nest and eggs of Newton's Bower-bird, I also 

 exhibited the nest and eggs of the Tooth-billed Bower-bird, 

 as well as the female, shot near the nest. The first nest 

 of Scenopwetes dentirostris was found by Mr. G. Sharp, about 

 five miles from Evelyn, on the 7th November, 1908. The 

 nest of Scenopceetes dentirostris is a frail structure, formed 

 throughout of twigs, coarser ones below and finer ones above, as 

 a resting-place for the eggs ; it is most flimsy and loosely built, 

 and resembles a nest of one of the smaller pigeons or that of a 

 dove, and averages five inches in diameter by two inches in 

 depth. It was placed in a small, thickly-foliaged tree, about 

 seventeen feet from the ground, and in the most dense part of 

 the scrub. The nest contained two eggs, which are oval in form, 

 the shell being very finely granulate, lustrous, and of a uniform 

 creamy-brown colour, resembling very much the eggs of ^^luroedus 

 maculosus, but of a more distinct brownish hue, measuring — 

 (a) 1.63 X 1. 12 inches; (b) 1.64 x i.i inches. Another set, 

 taken by Mr. Sharp, on the 8th November, 1908, in the same 

 locality, measures — (a) 1.68 x 1.13 inches; (b) 1.63 x i.i 

 inches. 



The eggs are typically those of a Cat-bird, but the nest is the 

 reverse, resembling that of one of the Chlamydoderce, but scantier, 

 and formed of finer materials. Strictly speaking, Scenopceetes is 

 not a Bower-bird, for it does not form a bower ; on the other 

 hand, it is not a true Cat-bird, for it forms a play-ground, which 

 these birds do not. As I have stated before, it is a connecting 

 link between these two groups, and might be more aptly called a 

 leaf-turner. There is nothing, however, to be gained by altering, 

 the vernacular name which it has long been known by, that of the 

 Tooth-billed Bower-bird. I have photographed the nests and 

 eggs of both species, which are here exhibited. 



The following information has been extracted from voluminous 

 notes made by Mr. Sharp, or received verbally from him by the 

 writer : — " I arrived at Atherton, North-eastern Queensland, on 

 the 15th September, 1908, and, having finished my business there, 

 left on the 23rd inst. for Herberton, where I stayed a few days. 



