THE JACKSONIAN OOLOGICAL COLLECTION, 
The nest is most remarkable, and unlike any other that I know of in Australia. It is dome- 
shaped, with at entrance at the side, and is composed of twigs, dead grasses, leaves, etc., very loosely 
put together. The only firm part about it is the lining, which is most extraordinary, and resembles 
coarse papier-maché, but on closer examination of this solid body, one finds that it is a dried pulp of 
soft and decayed wood, that the bird has worked up and put together while in a wet state. The eggs 
were simply laid on this hard cardboard-like rounded receptacle, and nota vestige of any other material 
was in the nest. I thought perhaps the eggs had been laid before the birds had finished lining it, 
but that is not the case, and I have proved it in a very substantial way. 
When at Booyong scrubs, near Lismore, Richmond River, N.S.W., at the end of 1899, 1 found 
another nest of the Aérichia (during November), and built again in a tuft of rush-like grass, and the 
young had only left it a few days. This one I possess also, and is lined in exactly the same manner 
as the Don Dorrigo specimen, being of a hard cardboard-like nature, and has no other lining in it. 
These birds I found very plentiful at Booyong, Richmond River, N.S.W., in 1899, but of course they 
are nearly all driven away from those parts now (1907), owing to the progress in the dairying industry, 
necessitating the removal of the rich and beautiful scrubs. 
We usually had great 
difficulty in getting a 
good distance shot at an 
Atrichia, simply on ac- 
count of the way in 
which it confines itself 
to the masses of vines, 
fallen trees, and debris 
on the ground. How- 
ever, when it does ap- 
pear, it is frequently only 
a few feet from the 
muzzle of your gun, and 
in such cases it is better 
to leave it, for the bird 
is only blown to atoms; 
and thus rendered use- 
less for any scientific 
purposes. I always had 
great difficulty in obtain- Watching the Atrichia in the Don Dorrigo Scrubs, N.S.W. 
ing a perfect specimen 
on this account, notwithstanding that I used a proper specimen gun with specially prepared charges. 
The Atrichia’s nest, from which the set of 2 eggs was taken, gives the following measurements :— 
Placed 7 inches (in the tuft of grass) up from the ground, height of nest overall 74 inches, width of 
nest overall 4 inches, height of egg cavity, inside, 3 inches, width of egg cavity, inside, 2 inches, from 
back to front of nest inside 2% inches, opening of nest 2} inches. The food of the Atvichia I found 
consisted chiefly of snails eggs, young tender shelled snails, worms, and the larvae and pupa of various 
Cavabide and other Coleoptera, living among the damp masses of leaves on the ground in the scrubs. 
The note of the Atvichia is a very shrill and /oud penetrating “ chirp ” which is uttered slowly four 
times, “ chirp-chirp-chirp-chirp,” the last chirp being sounded a little lower than the others. The bird is a 
great mimic, and I have frequently heard it imitate to perfection the notes of the spined-tailed Log 
Runner (Orthonyx spinicauda), The Goshawk (Astuy approximans), and Yellow-throated Scrub Wren 
(Sericornis citreogularis), etc. ‘The Common Yellow Robins (Eopsaltria australis) about Sydney, when 
they give their four shrill chirp-like notes, resemble very much those of the A trichia. 
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