Some Foreign Bird Architects. 



sionally the mounds are met with in barren, rocky, 

 and sandy situations, where not a particle of soil similar 

 to that of which they are composed occurs for miles 

 round ; how the soil is produced in such situations appears 

 unaccountable. It has been said that the parent birds 

 bring it from a grea^ distance ; but as, as we have seen, 

 they readily adapt themselves to the difference of situa- 

 tion, this is scarcely probable. I conceive that they 

 collect the dead leaves and other vegetable matter 

 that may be at hand, and which, decomposing, forms 

 this particular description of soil. These mounds are 

 doubtless the work of many years, and of many birds 

 in succession ; some of them are evidently very an- 

 cient, trees being often seen growing from their sides. 

 In one instance I found a tree growing from the middle 

 of a mound which was a foot in diameter." * 



The Australian Magpie-lark, or Pied Grallina, is 

 a wonderfully graceful, elegant bird, and singularly 

 tame and confiding in disposition, boldly visiting the 

 verandas of the houses, along which it will run in a 

 manner very similar to that of our British Pied Wag- 

 tail. Needless to say, it is a great favourite with all 

 bird-loving residents. The nesting season is in October 

 and November, and then the Pied Grallina shows itself 

 to be an elegant worker in clay, with which material 

 it builds a nest. Most birds seek at least to partially 

 hide their nests from view, or by using suitable materials, 

 such as moss and lichens, strive to make them resemble 

 their surroundings in colour and appearance. Not so 

 the Pied Grallina, which seems almost to go out of its 

 way to make its nest as conspicuous an object as pos- 

 * Gould's Handbook to the Birds of Australia. 

 219 



