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and especially by increasing their insecft food as the natural

nesting season in each year approached.


It was not till last May had well advanced that I noticed

that the female was becoming bolder, and more friendly towards

her mate : while both of them, to my delight, put on an unusual

bloom upon their plumage, the female curiously showing more

blue in the tints of her neck, throat and breast ; while the other

bird was much more green in those parts. A stranger would,

from outward appearances, undoubtedly have mistaken the

sexes of this pair ; if he did not happen to hear the ringing

harsh croak, so much more powerful and prolonged in the male

bird ; and which he always accompanied by throwing his head

up in the well known attitude of the Great Australian Laughing

Jackass.


Presently the female was seen to fly in and out of the

large hollow log, and there were other unmistakable signs

which indicated that at last my hopes were in a fair way to be

realized.


As we had to be very careful not to disturb the birds, it is

impossible to assign exadt dates ; but we thought that laying

commenced on the 13th June ; while young birds were first heard

calling for food 011 the 2nd of July.


The birds were kept well supplied with mealworms, gentles,

and such beetles as could be collected, as well as their ordinary

mixture of rabbit chopped up with the fur, and small bones,

mice and hard boiled egg. Fortunately, while feeding the young

on insedts, the parents continued to eat the chopped meat, &c.

themselves,which of course made matters easier. I have found in

the case of other insectivorous birds, such as Rock Thrushes,

that, as long as there were insects going, their ordinary food was

neglected; and it is hard to keep both parents and brood on

insect diet, as at midsummer mealworms are difficult to obtain

in quantity. As the young advanced the rabbit and egg were

taken up to the nest; and presently we were able to add wasp

grubs to the menu.


On July the 22nd, the young were still heard calling lustily

in the log-nest, and the parents were frequently carrying up food,

and all seemed going on most satisfactorily. I11 the evening my

man told me that the female had been fighting badly with the

male ; and I found him crouching in a corner of the aviary

watching her ; while his mate was jealously keeping him away

from the nest. After I had separated them, he, poor fellow,



