Data 
No. 
No. in 
A.J. 
Campbell’s No. of 
Book. 
Eggs. 
THE JACKSONIAN OOLOGICAL COLLECTION. 
base of Glen Ugie Peak, 14 miles south-east of Grafton, Clarence River, N.S.W., on the 21st of Novem- 
ber, 1897, by L. Vesper and myself. This bird is a most interesting species, and one which is rarely 
observed by persons other than those who have closely studied the ornithology of Australia. It is 
exceedingly shy, and its note is so very unlike that of a bird that the casual observer hearing it would 
simply pass it as the pulsating buzz of a large locust (Cicada), the noisy note of which is so well known 
to nearly all Australians during the summer months. My brother and I heard the buzz-like note in the 
bush at Glen Ugie Peak, each season for three years in succession, before we were convinced of the 
fact that it was made by a bird. The buzzing sound, and also a short note resembling “ pit: pit-pit-pit,” 
are only made while the bird is sitting ina tree or feeding; but when flying from tree to tree, or 
suddenly disturbed, the peculiar noisy and excited “ tweet-tweet-tweet,” and cluck-like notes are uttered. 
(See A. J. Campbell’s book on ‘‘ Nests and Eggs of Australian 
Birds,” page 102, for my notes on this shy species). I founda 
nest and egg of this bird in the bush between Roseville and the 
Lane Cove River near Sydney, on the 1oth of December, 1906, 
but only after I had followed and watched the birds for over 
twenty-one hours, during which period I climbed up and down 
the same rocky ridges and gullies dozens of times, and nearly wore 
out a pair of boots. The nest was placed 36 feet from the ground, 
ina Bloodwood Eucalypt (Zucalyptus corymbosa). These birds seem 
to confine themselves to the tall timbers of the coast, and I have 
never known them go inland. They visit us from the north during 
the end of September or early in October, and take their departure 
about the middle of February. In the Clarence River district we 
found the nests nearly always built in Ironbark or Bloodwood 
Eucalypts, and two or three times the birds removed their partially 
made nest after it was discovered. The female occasionally makes 
a buzzing noise like the male, but I have only noticed it during 
wet weather and when I was taking specimen data No. 527. The 
most usual note of the female is a cluck-like sound, similar to that 
of the male, but it is very seldom made, and that is one reason 
why the female is so difficult to catch sight of during the breeding 
season. The last nest and egg which I took of this species in the 
Clarence River district, was on the gth of February, 1898, and the 
following is an extract from my note book ve same :—“'I had not 
long entered Wall’s gully when the loud cluck-like notes of the 
} : ‘ The white cross shows Sid. W. 
male bird came to my ears, followed by his peculiar buzzing Jackson up at the nest of the 
. oath : - Caterpillar Catcher, at an altitude 
noise. I tracked him for over two hours, and was just giving UP of 5 feet. The small nest is in 
all hopes of finding the nest, when all at once he alighted in an _ the fork below the black cross. 
Ironbark Eucalypt, close to the clump of small gum saplings in aed oo poe ce 
which I was hiding. He flew down toa horizontal forked limb, (See data No. 525, page 92.) 
with a caterpillar in his beak, and, in a few seconds, ran along the 
limb towards the fork, looking carefully around every few steps, and finally reaching the fork, dropped 
the caterpillar and flew away. On going over to the tree, from underneath, and with the aid of the 
field glasses, I could see a slight sign of a nest, and the tail of the hen bird sticking a little over the 
side. I had no climbing paraphernalia with me, and being alone I had just to scramble the tree as 
best I could, and a difficult and uncomfortable task it was, owing to the high climb (60 feet), and the 
roughness of the bark. However, I at last reached the nest, and took from it one beautiful fresh egg, 
which now graces another collection. While sitting down resting after my climb, and examining my 
torn and bleeding arms, to my surprise I found both birds (¢ and ?) busily engaged pulling the nest 
93 
