248 Jackson, In the Barron River Valley, N.Q. [,s!^june 



Stalker Fig-Bird {Sphecotheres sialkeri), and others character- 

 istic of forest or big timber lands. 



With an eye to night comforts, we gathered material for 

 bedding our bunks, and repaired to the camp for the mid-day 

 meal. Although we had only homely fare — tea, damper, and 

 salt beef — it greatly refreshed us. Then, after a restful pipe, 

 we were again on the move, with the idea of getting a general 

 knowledge of the locality, to ensure its being exhaustively 

 worked during our camp in the Tinaroo. Whilst passing close 

 to some huge kauri pines we got within sound of a Tooth-billed 

 Bower-Bird, and sat still to listen, with a view to arriving at the 

 range of its powers of mimicry. Certainly it gave us a great 

 variety, reproducing with startling exactness the notes of the 

 Dron^o, the Forest Kingfisher {Halcyon madcayi), Northern 

 Lorikeet, the Bower Shrike-Thrush, Black-headed Log-runner, 

 Dollar-Bird or Roller, Barred Cuckoo-Shrike, and others ; 

 but his masterpiece of vocal conjuring was the imitation 

 of the whirring rattle of a so-called locust or cicada when 

 captured and held by a bird ; so true to sound was it that 

 we thought the Tooth-bill was treating himself to a hard- 

 shell dinner of these noisy insects. Similarly this master 

 mimic reproduced the distressed cry of a frog when caught 

 by a bird, snake, &c. ; truly he must have studied Nature's 

 tragedies at close range, and meant to advertise to all how 

 clever an actor he was. Buoyed by strong hopes of 

 ultimate success, we tried persistently to achieve the as yet 

 unrecorded discovery of the Tooth-bill's nest, but not only 

 could not find it, but, save where the lonely sentinel had been 

 scared into upward flight, could not even see one of the birds 

 perch anywhere except on or close to the ground. With a keen 

 eye for this, our longed-for objective, and at the same time 

 keeping a corner of it for the nests of the Black-headed Log- 

 runner, we wound and twisted throughout the thickets. The 

 Victoria Rifle-Birds challenged our attention many times, and 

 we watched one pair for some time, but they managed to vanish 

 in the surrounding tangle. Following them, we came upon a 

 recently felled kauri pine, and loaded ourselves with enough 

 splittings for a camp table, and thus encumbered made for 

 home. We were not altogether sorry when a Tooth-bill's call 

 gave us excuse to put down our loads and creep cautiously 

 through the scrub to the cleared play-ground, which was almost 

 visible across an old timber track lying ahead. The bower was 

 carpeted as usual, 15 long, fresh leaves of three kinds lying 

 there in the now common reversed position. The bird seemed 

 more than a little annoyed at the invasion of his privacy, and 

 flew up into a tree and stayed there in sulky silence. It was 

 just at this spot that we received a fillip of excitement in a 

 discovery that at first promised well. In a mass of lawyer vines 



