INSESSORES. 311 



year, having shot them in four different stages; the two 

 centre, curved feathers are the last to make their appearance. 

 They hve entirely upon small insects, principally beetles. 

 Their flesh is not eatable, being dark, dry, and tough, and 

 quite unhke other birds. They commence building their nests 

 in May, lay in June, and have young in July. They generally 

 place their nests on the side of some steep rock, where there 

 is sufficient room to form a lodgment, so that no animals or 

 vermin can approach. 



" The nest is constructed of small sticks, interwoven with 

 moss and fibres of roots, the inside being lined with the 

 skeleton leaf of the parasitical tree fern, resembling horsehair, 

 and covered in, with the entrance on the side. The single 

 egg laid is of a very dark colour, appearing as if it had been 

 blotched over with ink. The young bird for the first month 

 is covered with down, and remains in the nest about six weeks 

 before it takes its departure. Aboriginal name,' Colwin.' " 



Mr. Wilcox, in a letter dated Sydney, September 26, 1852, 

 writes : — 



"It gives me much pleasure to forward to you the nest 

 and egg of Menura alberti, which I have just obtained from 

 the Richmond River. It was placed on a rocky ledge, about 

 one hundred feet above the stream, so difficult of access as 

 to render its acquisition a task of no ordinary kind. Another 

 nest was also found in the brush near the water ; it would 

 seem, therefore, that there is no rule as to the elevation of 

 the locahty in which it is placed. Only one egg was found 

 in each nest ; and, from all the information I could glean on 

 the subject, the bird never lays but one. 



" You will be as sorry to hear as I am to tell you, that by 

 an accidental fire I have just lost four young birds which had 

 been taken from nests the moment they were ready to leave them, 

 and which had thriven well for four months on worms, insects, 

 bread, and meat. Mr. Lonsdale, a gentleman who has paid 

 much attention to the birds of Australia, tells me that while 

 out shooting on Mount Kera he came upon a bird sitting on 



