378 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



male, whose white throat and banded chest render him much 

 more conspicuous than the sombre-coloured female. As the 

 structure of its toes and lengthened tertiaries would lead us 

 to expect, its natural province is the ground, to which it ha- 

 bitually resorts, and decidedly evinces a preference to spots of 

 a sterile and barren character. The male frequently perches 

 either on the summit of a stone, or on the extremity of a dead 

 and leafless branch. It is rather shy in its disposition, and 

 when disturbed flies off with considerable rapidity to the 

 distance of two or three hundred yards before it alights again. 



From some interesting notes on Australian birds by E. P. 

 Ramsay, Esq., pubhshed in the 'Ibis ' for 1863, I learn that 

 " These birds arrive in New South Wales about the beginning 

 of September and October. In the latter month they com- 

 mence building on open lands studded with low bushes. The 

 stunted Bassarice, the prickly twigs of which are often used 

 to form the framework of their nests, seem their favourite 

 building-places. The nests are usually situated a few inches 

 from the ground, are cup-shaped, placed upon a strong frame- 

 work of twigs, and neatly lined with grass, hair, &c. I have 

 frequently found them among the dead leafy tops of a fallen 

 Eucalyptus which had been left by the wood-cutters when 

 clearing a piece of new ground. 



" The eggs are usually three but sometimes four in num- 

 ber, from 6^ to 7 lines long by 5 broad, of a beautiful white, 

 some spotted and others irregularly marked with bright deep 

 reddish brown at the larger end, where occasionally they form 

 an indistinct zone. In some specimens the spots are crowded 

 at the top, and very sparingly sprinkled on the other parts of 

 the egg. 



" These birds readily betray the position of their nests or 

 young by their anxiety and attempts to draw one from the 

 spot by feigning broken wings, and by lying struggling on 

 the ground as if in a fit. They have two broods (and perhaps 

 more) in the year, after which the young accompany the 



