70 Jackson, Haunts of the Spotted Bower-Bird. [is/^Oct. 



decoration of their play-ground could be daily supplied it might thus, 

 perhaps, prevent the birds going far afield for it, and running the risk of 

 iDeing shot by the selector, who mercilessly kills them when he can, as he 

 looks upon them as great marauders on his few treasured fruit trees. 



No. 1 bower, near camp, was not visited too often, as I feared hunting the 

 birds away altogether; when a visit of inspection was made it was cautiously 

 carried out, and when both birds were absent. Anything I put in the 

 play-ground, purely as a means of experiment, the birds at once rejected, 

 and re-adjusted any decorations I might have moved. Saw flock of 

 21 Grey Struthideas, and they made a fearful noise. This bird's note 

 resembles the sound made by a person running along beside a stone or sand- 

 plastered wall and pressing a stick firmly against it as he proceeds, and 

 every now and then lifting it off. Noticed many handsome Crimson-winged 

 Lories {Pizsfes erythropfcriis), Barnard Parrakeets {Barnardius barnardt), 

 and Crimson-bellied Parrakeets {Psepliofus /ucma/orr/ious) ; some were in the 

 bush, and others were drinking at the sheep-tank. Had heard or seen no 

 Cuckoos up to date. Found several new nests of Acantliisa chryso7-rhoa 

 pulled to pieces and hanging in the trees and bushes. The White Cockatoos 

 {Cacatua galerita) seldom come about my camp ; they keep to the much 

 taller and larger timber on the banks of the Moonie River, a few miles to 

 the east. Ants of many species are most troublesome, covering everything 

 in camp. On travelling away from the sheep-tank (especially north, west, 

 or south of camp) bird-life became scarce, and it gradually increased again 

 as other water was approached miles away. 



2'^th September. — Climbed to the nest of a Crow [Corvi/s corottoides) in 

 a coolibah at 6 a.m., and found it to contain two young birds f about two 

 days old) and an addled egg. Nest placed up 50 feet, and thickly lined 

 with a deep layer of Emu feathers. While climbing this tree I noticed, 

 when the loose bark fell oft", that the trunk and limbs were covered in many 

 places with countless small land-shells or bush-snails clinging and quite 

 firmly fastened on, and apparently ready to hibernate for a dry spell. The 

 bark being removed, the Babblers and Struthideas soon saw these small 

 living shells, and spent some time picking them oft" the tree ; they belong- 

 to the genus Succinea. Other trees then examined also were covered with 

 many of these tiny shells, and almost every tree from which I lifted loose 

 bark revealed these small mollusca (living, though for the time being 

 stationary). A number of birds ate the shells when I took off the bark. 

 Mr. Chas. Hedley, F.L.S., Conchologist and Assistant Curator of the 

 Australian Museum, Sydney, has since inspected some of these shells, and 

 believes they are new to science. It seems remarkable how these shells 

 exist in such an arid place and season as this. 



Visited No. i bower to-day, and found the missing squares of tinfoil 

 paper stuck into the upright grass of the passage walls and facing the 

 passage ; also one of the missing greengage plum seeds was found. Near 

 the bower was noticed one of the Bower-Birds patiently collecting and 

 feeding on small insects which it was obtaining from the leaves of a coolibah 

 {Eucalyptus bicolor, F. v. M.) Three birds were at this No. i bower 

 to-day, and not two, as has been the case all along. Two birds had lilac 

 napes, and one was without. I went away some distance with the field- 

 glasses to watch the birds, and every now and then they took it in turn to 

 fly to my tent on the east side of the sheep-tank. One of them mimicked 

 the notes of the Magpie {GyiiinorJiina tibiceti) to perfection, and in addition 

 to this rendered a sound exactly resembling that of sheep getting through 

 a wire fence. The imitation was wonderful, reproducing a metallic rattle 

 and ringing exactly like the sound from the vibrating wires when sheep or 

 Emus go through. This clever bit of mimicry must be heard to be fully 

 appreciated. I got the first good view of the Reddish-crowned Fly-eater 

 {Pseudogerygpne jacksoni)^ and found the first nest in course of con- 

 struction. The nest was built about 9 feet up, and suspended from the 



