OPEN NESTS 175 



into the outside of the nest. The external diameter 

 of this nest was six inches, internal four inches ; 

 external depth three and a half inches, internal one 

 and three quarters inches. It was built on a hori- 

 zontal fork of a tall scrub tree, amongst forest 

 country, and about twenty yards from dense bush, 

 at a height of nearly fifty feet from the ground. 

 The nests of the equally aberrant Rifle-birds {Cras- 

 pedophora), inhabiting much the same regions, are 

 also of another type. That of Prince Albert's Rifle- 

 bird (C. alherti), also from the vicinity of Cape York, 

 has been described by the same naturalist. One of 

 the most remarkable features about this nest is the 

 exceptionally loose way in which the materials are 

 put together. One of the nests was made in a small 

 palm about seven feet from the ground ; others were 

 in pandanus trees, or in small trees that had had 

 their tops broken off' and a few shoots growing out ; 

 others were placed against the stems of small trees 

 where two or three vine branches met; whilst in a 

 solitary instance a nest was found on the top of a 

 stump only eighteen inches from the ground. The 

 nest is little more than a loose heap of material 

 made of green twigs with the leaves still attached, 

 large dead leaves, and the tendrils of vines. The 

 external depth of the nest is about five inches, 

 internal two and three-quarter inches, outside 

 diameter nine inches, internal about half that 

 amount. The singular, we might say almost unique, 



