2^2 Macgillivrav, Along the Great Barriev Reef. [.st^D^c. 



a bare tree quite dose to us, with their crests erect and all the 

 feathers of the neck ruffled. Although such big birds, their voices 

 are decidedly more musical than those of any other Black 

 Cockatoo. In the scrub we frequently hear the loud, clear, and 

 incisive whistle of the Rifle-Bird, and find two old nests — one 

 in a sapling, the other in the fork of a tree, both at a height of 

 about 5 feet from the ground. The Blue Mountain Lorikeet is 

 everywhere in the open glades, feeding on the blossoming trees. 

 Our last day sees us make an early start for Mr. Vidgen's 

 home, where we have breakfast. On the way the loud call 

 of a Channelbill (Scythrops) attracts our attention to this great 

 Cuckoo as he flies overhead. Ptilotis versicolor are again 

 noisily asserting themselves at the mangrove crossing, and near 

 Puira we see a Drongo building its nest. Going west from 

 the house we pass through an open glade in the scrub, where Mr. 

 Elgner has his butterfly cages, to more open country. A hollow 

 that has been prepared by the great Palm-Cockatoo is examined 

 by Mr. M'Lennan. It is large, open, and filled up for a foot or 

 more with chipped-up wood, evidently carried to the hollow by the 

 birds. This, I hear, is their usual method of nest preparation. 

 Entering a patch of scrub where there is a beautiful running 

 stream and a luxuriant growth of palms, tree-ferns, and smaller 

 ferns, we cross through it, flushing a Rufous-breasted Shrike- 

 Thrush from its nest and eggs. The note of this small Shrike- 

 Thrush is hardly distinguishable from that of the ordinary Grey 

 Thrush. Two more pairs of Palm-Cockatoos are disturbed after 

 this. Drongos, Friar-Birds, Fig-Birds, and Orioles are quite 

 numerous outside, and in the scrub the note of the Rifle-Bird is 

 frequently, and that of the Manucode less often, heard. We find 

 several old nests of the former, mostly in the pandanus, and at 

 last see a female Rifle-Bird leave a nest placed at about lo feet 

 from the ground in a small tree with a single straight stem and 

 small branching top, the nest being placed where the branches 

 go off. The nest is composed outwardly of broad leaves, placed 

 mostly with the stems upwards, and is lined with a scanty lining 

 of leaf midribs, arranged in a circular manner. It contains two 

 fresh eggs. In the scrub we frequently hear and see the Fruit- 

 Pigeons — Piilopus ewingi, Lamprotreron snperba, Megaloprepia 

 assimilis, and Colmnba leucomela. The Little Shrike-Thrush is 

 often heard, and the Honey-eaters Ptilotis gracilis and Myzomela 

 obscura seen. Another pair of Palm-Cockatoos go complainingly 

 away, and we retrace our steps for a while, then go out and enter 

 another belt of scrub, where we flush some Brush-Turkeys. These 

 birds often fly up on to a tree when disturbed. Their mound is 

 seen in course of preparation. Later we come across a large 

 mound of the Megapode 12 feet in height and 20 feet in diameter. 

 The Megapode is flushed, and flies up on to a high horizontal 

 branch. Near here we notice what looks like an old Pigeon's nest 

 on a slender horizontal branch. Though three of us are looking 

 at it from only a few yards, so marked is the protection afforded 



