212 Barnard, Search for Eggs of Colluricincla woodwardi. [.st^Xprii 



Borroloola) being the chief cause. Several nests of the Little 

 Wood-Swallow {Artamus minor) were found in holes in the 

 sandstone cliffs, but they all contained young. Also numbers of 

 old nests of the Fairy Martin were seen in caves or under over- 

 hanging rocks. Realizing that I was too early for the birds, I 

 decided to revisit the locality in about lo days' or a fortnight's 

 time, when I shall hope to do much better. When I returned to 

 Borroloola I had tramped over 70 miles for a single pair of eggs ! 



A Visit to the Gosford Scrubs. 



By Sidney Wm. Jackson, R.A.O.U., Chatswood, New South 



Wales. 



In company with my brother, Mr. Frank T. A. Jackson, I spent 

 a few days camped on his property near Gosford, N.S.W., during 

 the last Christmas holidays. Notwithstanding the then unusually 

 dry state of the country, in all 62 species of birds were noted in 

 and about the bush close to our camp, the more elevated portions 

 of which are covered with blackbutt (Eucalyptus pilularis), blue 

 gum {Eucalyptus, sp.), sweet-scented wattle (Acacia pruinosa, 

 a late flowering species), forest oak (Casuarina), &c. ; while in the 

 beautiful scrub-clad gullies below the camp were tree-ferns, 

 bangalow and cabbage-tree palms, stag-horn ferns (Platycerium 

 grande), &c. Here the water- vines (Vitis hypoglauca) drooped 

 over the moss-covered logs, and climbed up and linked together 

 the tall and shady scrub trees, such as the maiden's blush tree 

 (Echinocarpus australis), bean-ball tree (Castanospermum aiistrale), 

 black apple tree (Sideroxylon australe). The moss on everything 

 in the scrub was parched, and not of its usual beauty when 

 ghstening with moisture. Many broken land-shells — snails (Helix 

 greyi. Helix strangei, &c.) — were strewn about on the ground in 

 the scrub, and these fragments were no doubt the result of the 

 work of the Lyre-Bird (Menura), which, like the beautiful 

 Dragoon-Bird or Pitta (Pitta strepitans) of our more northern 

 scrubs, is a great snail-eater, and usually breaks them on a stone. 

 We observed a female Regent Bower-Bird (Sericulus chryso- 

 ccphalus) frequently fly over our tent into a clump of mistletoe 

 (Loranthus) growing in a forest oak (Casuarina) on the edge of 

 the scrub. In this parasitical growth the bird had its nest, which 

 contained young. The female alone was noticed feeding them, 

 and the male was not observed near the nest. Several beautiful 

 nests of the White-shafted Fantail (Rhipidura albiscapa) were 

 found, with the birds sitting on eggs or chicks. It was most 

 pleasing to watch the Httle birds going to and from their nests, 

 which were built on dead limbs of wattle (Acacia pruinosa) and 

 turpentine-trees (Syncarpia laurifolia) on the recently burnt-off 

 land beside the scrub. Other nests were found, but none of any 

 importance ; in fact, most birds had, no doubt, finished breeding, 



