236 Jackson, In the Barron River Valley, N.Q. [^^^ ""^^ 



ear was caught by a loud throaty note, hke nothing I had ever 

 heard before, and which can only be rendered in human 

 language as resembling the word " c/iuck " ; this was followed 

 by an apparent outbreak of song from other song-birds, but in 

 reality the whole performance was a mimicry solo by the Tooth- 

 billed Bower-Bird, who was evidently having a little vaudeville 

 show all to itself. In addition to all this, there was a complica- 

 tion of rasping sounds impossible to describe. Probably our 

 friend was rehearsing some new effects, and finding it difficult to 

 catch the right note. I halted instantly and waited listening for 

 a quarter of an hour ; then, having pretty well located the spot, 

 I wended my way noiselessly in the direction of the sound, 

 chalking the trees as I went. At last I sighted my quarry — he 

 was a grey-plumaged bird, and his thrush-like breast was turned 

 towards me, so that from my memory of preserved specimens, 

 which I had recently examined in the Queensland Museum, I 

 recognized the lonely vocalist as indeed a veritable Tooth-bill. 

 It was sitting on a slanting stick about 18 inches above the 

 ground, and, with its head well thrown back, was uttering a 

 screeching, throaty note, varied at intervals by the loud '"c/iuck," 

 to which I have already referred. It was alone, so I got a 

 splendid view of it before it flew away, and then, walking on 

 to the spot, I made the first of my many interesting finds. The 

 ground had been scratched perfectly clean and free of all dead 

 leaves and debris for a space of 18 feet in circumference, and on 

 this cleared patch there were placed eleven long, fresh green 

 leaves, evidently plucked quite recently, and each lying upside 

 down and separate from the rest. I looked carefully for a tree 

 bearing the same leaves, but could find none anywhere near, so 

 they had probably been brought some distance. They averaged 

 8 by 2jy^ inches, and were not of the glossy type, whilst their 

 reverse sides were much lighter in colour, chiefly owing to the 

 numerous veins which intersected them. These leaves were 

 spread on the gently sloping bank of a densely-foliaged creek, 

 and the peculiar " play-ground " was arched over to a height of 

 about 3^ feet by a number of green and leafless vines, forming 

 a sort of natural bower. The curled and partially withered 

 leaves of the previous day's play were to be noticed cast outside 

 the cleared area, together with older and still more withered 

 ones. This, then, was the play-ground of the Tooth-billed 

 Bower-Bird, and I ventured to believe that the object of the 

 bird in placing the leaves face down was to prevent them (as 

 long as possible) from curling, as is the habit of leaves, towards 

 the upper side ; this to my mind shows a foresight and artistic 

 perception characteristic of all that one has ever heard of 

 the Bower-Bird family; in fact, later, in November and 

 December of 1908, in my camp in the Tinaroo scrubs, I proved 

 my theory to a certain extent by experimenting in the shade 



