42 stray Feathers. [,J™>,^. 



always rely on finding them again within a radius of a few 

 hundred yards, and apparently they never go beyond that limit. 

 This applies also to their nesting. When a nest was found in 

 a new locality we generally found old ones, some lately used and 

 others so old that they were just held together. The task of 

 making the nest falls to the female alone, the male accom- 

 panying her the while and uttering his sweet call of " Guinea-a- 

 week " ; both utter a soft and sweet " Qui-wit," and occasionally 

 a piping " Tui." The alarm note is a piping " Tow " (sounded 

 as in cow). The nest is first started with a few long eucalyptus 

 leaves, then bark is used, and finally it is lined with soft, fine 

 grasses or feathers. It is rapidly put together, taking from i^ 

 to 2 days, one being apparently finished after eight hours' work. 

 On 24th November, 1907, at 9 a.m., I was attracted to a spot by 

 the call of a female. She was on the ground and facing a 

 tussock of fine grass. Creeping closely up to the spot (the bed 

 of a dry creek), I was enabled to see her start the nest. 

 Suddenly the bird would dart into the tussock and use 

 both Avings and feet, turning round and round. This was 

 repeated some five or six times before the opening made was 

 satisfactory, after which she quickly commenced to lay in the 

 leaves, and I quietly withdrew. Passing the place at 5.30 p.m. 

 I and a companion were astonished to find it apparently finished. 

 Two eggs were taken, slightl)' incubated, on Saturday, 6th 

 December. The nests are placed in a variety of positions, 

 sometimes quite on the ground and never more than 2 feet from 

 it. Many have been found in debris, but the general site is in 

 sword-grass, grass tussocks, and wire-grass. Now and then a 

 nest will be found embedded in these coverings, but we have 

 observed that as a rule the opening commands a fairly open 

 space, generally facing down hill, and if a creek or gully be close 

 by it faces that way. The eggs are two only, and, although we 

 have noticed a great number of their nests, we have never seen 

 more. The colour varies considerably. The typical 0.0^^ is of a 

 dark chocolate with a darker zone round the larger end, measur- 

 ing slightly more than an inch in length by about three-quarters 

 of an inch in width. We have noticed some that were almost 

 white, others of a light buff with minute dark spots ; some, 

 again, are olive and dark green, and through various shades of 

 chocolate. One female lays an odd set, one being of a drab 

 hue and the other greenish-white. Sometimes hairlike markings 

 appear on the surface, the colour of these being black ; others, 

 again, are zoned from top to bottom, but they all have the 

 appearance of being cracked all over when first taken from the 

 nest. The &gg is deposited in the nest about 1 1 a.m., and, I believe, 

 on alternate days, the clutch being completed in about eight days 

 after finishing the nest. On three occasions the ^gg of Cacomantis 



