238 Jackson, In the Barron River Valley, ^ Q- [isf"! 



mu 

 une 



Black-headed Log-runner {Orthonyx spaldingi), nests of which 

 I found in several places. They are large domed structures, 

 about half the size of that of the Lyre-Bird {Memira), and were 

 variously placed — some on the tops of stumps and on clumps of 

 stag-horn and bird-nest ferns, on the sides of trees, whilst in 

 two cases I found them in a mass of lawyer vines {Calamus), 9 

 feet from the ground. I also noted that a wide range of variety 

 of Pigeons was to be found in the locality ; also the Spotted 

 Cat-Bird [yE/urcedus maculosns), a familiar object in these 

 scrubs. 



Five most interesting hours passed all too quickly in the 

 luxuriant jungle of this locality, and, after a long, rough walk 

 back to camp, I found my friends, Messrs. Quirk and Fogarty, 

 had returned some time ahead of me. They, too, were full of 

 their discovery of one of the Tooth-bill's play-grounds. Nothing 

 would suffice but that I must- share the find, so accordingly I was 

 taken to see it, when I found that it furnished identically the 

 same details as those of my morning's discoveries. The leaves 

 were fresh, were of the same species, occupied the same face- 

 down position, and numbered 29 ; the cleared patch measured 4 

 feet across, and was hooded over by a mass of leaning lawyer 

 vines. Such was my day's work, which for a first visit to the 

 haunts of this curious and unique bird was to my mind extremely 

 satisfactory. We harnessed up our team and drove back 

 through the deep shade of the arching greenery to Atherton, 

 and as we went I could hear every now and then above the 

 rattle of our wheels the notes both of the Victoria Rifle-Bird 

 and of my new-found friend the Tooth-bill. At this stage it 

 was discovered that Mr. Quirk had left his coat behind, hanging 

 in a tree where we had camped, so, taking one of the horses out 

 of the buggy, he rode back 2 miles and got it. In the meantime 

 I went into the scrub exploring and finding more play-grounds 

 of the Tooth-bill. On Mr. Quirk's return we started off again. 

 All I wished was that his coat had been left further behind. 

 After driving a while, I was unable to resist the challenge, and 

 I got out here and there and hunted up more of the play- 

 grounds, still further verifying my first observation that they 

 were the haunt of one bird only, and that in most cases they 

 were decorated with the same class of leaves, except in a few 

 instances in which the bower was carpeted with long, narrow, 

 and pointed leaves of the wild ginger plant, averaging a length 

 of 15 inches by a width of 3 inches. Driving on, I noticed the 

 ordinary wealth of wild fruits and vines, the scrub raspberries 

 {Rubus rosisfolius) in particular growing thickly along the edges 

 of the scrub, whilst the heavy and tall timbers were represented 

 by splendid red cedar, kauri pine, crow's-foot elm, bean-tree, 

 beech, quandong, silky oak, '&c., all testifying to the richness of 

 the district in its timber resources. 



