Vol. VIII, 



1909 



1 Jackson/ /w the Barron River Valley, N.Q. 253 



stones and logs polished with the friction of their constant 

 traffic. It was here that I discovered that the Tooth-bill's 

 "ckuck" note is not really its own, but borrowed from the 

 Bower Shrike-Thrush {CollyT-iocincla boweri). I heard two 

 of these Thrushes rendering it at first, and took it as pro- 

 ceeding from a Tooth-bill, until by patient watching I saw the 

 Thrushes at it. I was helped to decide this fact by the clear 

 trill of sweet harmonic notes with which the Bower-Thrush 

 follows up the " cJiuck''' call, all of which I had often heard the 

 Tooth-bill give at its play-ground. The Fruit-Pigeons had 

 evidently been breeding here in almost a colony, as their old 

 nests were to be seen low down in many of the smaller 

 trees and vine-clumps. I came across an aborigines' " bora " 

 ground, or, as the local tribe call it, " Did-aii-garr." It consisted 

 of a cleared area in the very heart of the jungle, the work, no 

 doubt, of some hundreds of years ago, when the natives had 

 nothing but stone axes to work with. Around it were several 

 grass-thatched gunyahs, and, as the natives were many and a 

 wild-looking lot, I considered discretion a wise choice, and kept 

 aloof, sheering off in another direction. The Lesser Pittas (/^zV/a 

 stniilliuia), which are known to the blacks here as " Wog-gow- 

 wah," were justifying their claim to the name which describes 

 them, and in the course of my wanderings I found several new 

 nests, all of which were placed at the roots of trees ; but perhaps 

 the most interesting find was in a patch of yellow cherry trees — 

 trees which bear a crinkled and yellowish fruit not unlike the 

 Brazilian cherry in flavour. Here I became nearly bushed, and 

 about 4 miles from my camp I saw a stately Cassowary follow- 

 ing the tactics of a predatory school-boy on orchard-robbing 

 intent. Having no hands to shake the fruit from the boughs 

 beyond his reach, he was vigorously bumping the trunk with his 

 breast — truly an arduous method of winning a meal, and per- 

 haps likely to contribute to speedy digestion ! This the blacks 

 informed me was quite a common habit with this bird. The 

 bird seemed to be very tame, and walked off in an unconcerned 

 and dignified fashion ; he was really quite a majestic fellow, with 

 a horn on his head about 5 inches high by 2}4 across at the 

 base. These birds are not exactly common here (though I 

 saw plenty of their traces), but towards the coast they are more 

 plentiful ; still the blacks tell me that their eggs are sometimes 

 found in these scrubs. Further on I again saw a Tooth-bill 

 perched in a tree some 25 feet or so above me. Here the scrub 

 was a bit clear, and I could look up ; here again, then, was the 

 unusual feature of a perching Tooth-billed Bower-Bird, so I 

 climbed the tree in which he was sitting, and several others as 

 well, hunting keenly for the hoped-for nest, then coming down 

 again and scanning all the greenery overhead with my field- 

 glasses, but without success. These birds must be going to breed 



