©ffidal ©rgaii of the ^n0ti'ala0taii ©nuthologietg' Enimi. 



Bir<js of a feather.' 



Vol. VIIL] ist JUNE, 1909. [Part 5 (Extra). 



In the Barron River Valley, North Queensland. 



Bv Sidney Wm. Jackson, A.O.U., Chatswood, New 

 South Wales. 



field observations in the tinaroo and atherton scrubs, 

 with photographs* by the author. 



During many years of laborious but delightful study of bird- 

 life in Australia, I often turned a longing eye in the direction of 

 the luxuriant tropical scrubs of Northern Queensland, as offering 

 a splendid field for ornithological research. Moreover, apart 

 from the general attractions which would draw the bird-lover to 

 the elevated scrub-lands of the far north, there was a very 

 special object which attracted me like a magnet, and that was 

 the desire to study, and to collect particulars of the haunts and 

 habits of, the Tooth-billed Bower-Bird {ScenopcBetes dentirostris, 

 Ramsay), which is known by repute to most bird students as a 

 feature of the region referred to. Other naturalists had visited 

 the locality with the same object, but had so far failed to secure 

 the nest and eggs of this most interesting bird. My own 

 experience among other rare scrub-birds had, however, prompted 

 me with a confidence that I could perhaps remove this matter 

 from the sphere of mystery, and give to brother ornithologists 

 definite data on the subject — an important one. I might also be 

 able to find the nest and eggs of the Golden Bower-Bird 

 {Priojiodura newtoniana, De Vis), thus gaining information 

 regarding the two remaining species of the Bower-Bird family 

 of the nidification of which full particulars had not yet been 

 recorded. 



The long-wished-for opportunity came at last. At the express 

 wish of Mr. Henry L. White, of Belltrees, Scone, New South 

 Wales, an enthusiastic oologist, I started from Sydney at the 

 end of May, 1908, thoroughly equipped for an eight months' trip 

 through the coastal districts of Queensland, with Cooktown as 

 my most northern headquarters, thus commanding touch with 

 the best of the tropical scrub of the northern State. Right at 

 this point I am prompted to express my wonder that the fast- 



* Strictly copyright. 



