250 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



I have not myself seen the bird in its native haunts, I 

 transcribe Gilbert's notes respecting it : — " Inhabits the 

 densest mangroves and thickets, and is usually seen creep- 

 ing about close to the ground among the fallen trees in the 

 swamps, at which time it utters a note so closely resembling 

 the croak of a frog, that it might easily be mistaken for the 

 voice of that animal ; this peculiar note would seem to be 

 only emitted while the bird is feeding on the ground ; for 

 when it occasionally mounts to the higher branches of the 

 trees it utters rather a pleasing succession of sounds re- 

 sembling twit-te-t'wite ; on the slightest disturbance it imme- 

 diately descends again to the underwood and recommences 

 its frog-like note. The nest is either built among the man- 

 groves, or on the verge of a thicket near an open spot. 

 One that I found among the mangroves was built on a seed- 

 ling-tree not more than three feet from the ground ; another 

 was on a branch overhanging a small running stream within 

 reach of the hand ; Avhile a third, constructed on the branches 

 of the trees bordering a clear space in the centre of a dense 

 thicket, was at least twenty feet high. The nest at all times 

 so closely resembles the surrounding branches, that it is very 

 difficult to detect unless the birds are very closely watched ; 

 in some instances it looks so like an excrescence of the tree, 

 and in others is so deeply seated in the fork whereon it is 

 placed, that it can hardly be discovered when the bird is 

 sitting upon it. The nest is about two inches and a lialf in 

 height and three and a quarter in diameter, is of a cup-shaped 

 form, with the rim brought to a sharp edge, and is outwardly 

 composed of the stringy bark of a Eucalyptus bound together 

 on the outside with vegetable fibres, among which in some 

 instances cobwebs are mixed : all over the outside of the nest 

 small pieces of bark resembling portions of lichens are at- 

 tached, some of them hanging by a single thread and moving 

 about with every breath of air ; the internal surface is lined 

 with a strong thread-like fibrous root, whereby the whole 



