458 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



F. Strange, writing from Moreton Bay, informed me that it 

 " is rudely constructed of sticks ; no other material being 

 employed, not even a few roots as a lining. On the 4th of 

 November I observed one building, and, as I was leaving for 

 the Richmond the next day, I gave instructions that it should 

 be taken fifteen days after ; when the time arrived, however, 

 no native could be got to seciu-e it, and it xemained till my 

 return on the 4th of December. I then sent a native up, 

 and he brought me the nest, with two young ones covered 

 with down, except the wings, which were feathered. As the 

 two birds quite filled the nest, and I have heard of other 

 nests being taken with the same number of birds in them, I 

 am inclined to believe that two is the normal number of eggs 

 laid. After taking the young, I wounded and succeeded in 

 capturing the old bird; which, after being two days in 

 confinement, became reconciled to captivity, attended to her 

 progeny, fed them, and removed the dirt that accumulated in 

 the nest." 



The eggs are still a desideratum, and their acquisition 

 would be a source of much gratification to me. 



The following extracts from a paper on the habits of this 

 fine bird, by C. Coxen, Esq., of Brisbane, read at a meeting 

 of the Queensland Philosophical Society on the 23rd of 

 May 1864, I consider to be of high interest, as affording a 

 clue to the position the bird should occupy in our systems : — 



" Although the Regent-bird has been known to ornitho- 

 logists for many years, very little of its habits has become 

 known, and it has been left for me to bring under your notice 

 the very peculiar and curious habit it enjoys in common 

 with the Satin-bird {Ptilonorhynchus holosericeus) and the 

 Spotted Bower-bird {Chlami/dodera maculata). My attention 

 was called to this peculiarity in August last, by Mr. Waller, 

 taxidermist, of Edward-street, in this city, to whose untiring 

 energy and ability as a collector I must always bear testimony. 

 Mr. Waller informed me that, while shooting in a scrub on 



