OF VICTORIA. Ill 



following observations upon this bird, finding it to be one 

 of the earliest nesters in his district. Before any sign 

 of a nest was shown, a Sericornis placed a few grasses 

 together in a thick -leafed bush, and continued to increase the 

 mass for thirty minutes. Then it discontinued and uttered 

 a number of grating notes to make up for lost vocal time, 

 and appealed to its mate — who had been hopping about 

 near branches watching the operation — for a recognition of 

 its work. This was at 1 1 a.m., when it adjourned work 

 till 6 a.m. the following morning. Then one hour's work 

 was given to the nest. During the whole of the time a 

 series of peculiar grating calls was given, and nothing more 

 was done till the same hour of the third morning (18th 

 September, 1896). The roomy cell of homogeneous plant 

 matter then received the addition of an inner wall of 

 another vegetable material (mainly old withered leaves). 

 The bird now made an alteration in the time table, and 

 during the fourth, fifth, and sixth mornings it laboured 

 from about an hour before noon to an hour after, working 

 leisurely throughout the time till the lining was completed. 

 On the seventh day the first egg was laid ; colour, brownish 

 purple spots and short streaks on a ground of lighter 

 similar shades. The second egg was deposited on the ninth 

 day of the month, and the third egg on the eleventh. On' 

 the fourteenth the bird had well set itself to the task of 

 incubation. 



In regular visits to four nests the eggs were found to be 

 laid each forenoon early. The young birds hatched out on 

 the twenty-third day from the time of the laying of the 

 third egg^ and the young were able to fly on the fifteenth 

 day from the breaking of the shell. The family immediately 

 begins a nomadic life, and the locality of the nest is left 

 to other birds before the morning of the following day. 



