Vol. IX 

 1910 



J Whitlock, On the East Murchison. 2 IS 



Queensland, I reflected that if the adults in the present party did not 

 intend to breed very shortly they would hardly have assembled at 

 their play-ground and behaved in the manner they did. Also, with 

 food so abundant, there would be nothing so very remarkable if a 

 second brood was reared in the same year, though there might be an 

 unusually long interval between the broods. Under the circumstances I 

 did not expect to find eggs for seven or eight weeks, and as the sequel 

 will show this estimate was not far out. 



Next morning I was down at the acacias again. I was very early. 

 Not a Bower-Bird was to be seen or heard. I returned again in the 

 afternoon. The performance was on, the " stage manager " being in 

 great form, and the audience numbering five. The red object was 

 again vigorously attacked, shaken, and well scolded. It proved to be 

 a large dead and dried-up centipede. At the conclusion the whole 

 party flew off as before into the tract of thicker scrub. 



On the following day I determined to make a thorough search in the 

 immediate neighbourhood for any signs of nesting, past or present. 

 In a couple of casuarinas, less than half a mile away, were two nests 

 very much like those of the Tooth-billed Bower-Bird depicted in Mr. 

 Sid. W. Jackson's photographs. They were both built of small, dead 

 twigs, with a lining, if it could be called such, of needles from the 

 casuarina tree. Both had an unoccupied look about them, though 

 otherwise in good preservation. For the size of the bird they appeared 

 small, but there was no other surrounding species to which they could 

 belong. Thej' were altogether too unsubstantial for old nests of 

 Cracticus leucopterus . I felt sure they were last season's nests of the 

 local Bower-Bird. However fascinating and exciting all this was, 

 there was other work to do, and I determined to clear up the mysterv 

 respecting the Ptilotis I had seen when I drove out. 



On 2ist September I walked out to the spot, distant some seven 

 miles, and hunted around. I could see no Ptilotis other than P. carteri, 

 so concluded I was mistaken. It was a hot day, so I turned towards 

 a neighbouring clay-pan which contained some very uninviting clay- 

 coloured water. On my way I passed several large mulgas, and a 

 large, spreading casuarina with the lower branches trailing on the 

 ground. A thick-set bird flew out with a harsh cry, which resembled 

 that of a Bower-Bird. I looked under the tree, and there was a 

 perfect play-ground, with an inverted archway, filled with white 

 flakes of limestone, mulga beans, sandal-wood nuts, and a few green 

 leaves. I hid myself close at hand and commenced calling. I soon 

 had the male back, and presently two or three more birds, but, owing 

 to the surrounding cover being much less dense than at the acacia 

 thicket, this party was much more shy. Their behaviour, however, 

 was just the same, but if I made any movement, the performance 

 ceased at once. My luck was evidently in, and I resolved to secure 

 nest and eggs of one or both parties of these Bower-Birds, even if I 

 had to wait till the next summer rains. I did not then take into 

 account one contingency which happened in connection with this 

 second party. 



To write out all my notes in full on these interesting birds would 

 occupy too much space, so I propose to give a summary of mv 

 observations, extending over six weeks' close contact with them. I 

 eventually found a third play-ground, about three-quarters of a mile 

 to the south of the acacia scrub. At this play-ground I never saw 

 more than two birds.- It was situated, as before, under a large. 



