Vol. VIII. 

 1909 



] Jackson, In the Barron River Valley, N.Q. 273 



excited face, as he nervously calls — " Be careful ; be very careful 

 of them." After a rest, and when the excitement has abated 

 somewhat, I set to work and carefully remove those rare brown 

 specimens from the frail nest, and place them, well wrapped up 

 in wadding, in my leather egg-pouch. Then, as I have fixed 

 and focussed my camera ready to take a photo, before I started 

 my climb, I sing out to my ground mate to act as operator, and 

 in a few seconds ([5) the photograph is secured, showing the 

 tree and the climbers, also position of nest. ( Vide illustration.) 

 The native brings the nest down for me in his usual careful 

 and faithful way, and not a stick is out of its place when he 

 hands it to me. Now on the ground, a firm grip of hands is 

 made and congratulations exchanged. We are all excited, and 

 the poor old "nigger" appears to be quite overcome with joy, 

 because I have at last been rewarded. We then return to 

 camp, where we find ourselves happy men. 



The eggs were quite fresh, so I timed my visit fairly 

 accurately. After blowing them, they were safely packed up 

 and locked away. The nests I had expected to find more like 

 those of the Cat-Bird, whereas they really more approximate 

 those of the Regent-Bird {Sericiilus melinus). I was pleased 

 beyond measure to find that although the eggs do resemble 

 those of the Spotted Cat-Bird, there is an unmistakable 

 difference both in the depth of the colour and texture of the 

 shell — the latter point, in my opinion, being the more important. 

 When these unique eggs are placed side by side with the 

 commoner and much paler eggs of the Spotted Cat-Bird, the 

 difference is most noticeable. On the other hand, if this colour 

 should even fade away, there is always the unmistakable, 

 unchanging evidence in the shell. To separate these eggs only 

 requires a casual glance of an eye quite untrained in oological 

 matters. When examined at night in gas or candle light the 

 difference between the two eggs is even more pronounced. 

 The pair of Tooth-bills which has been frequently quoted 

 in the preceding pages of this article as being behind our 

 camp, to which the pair of eggs now under notice belongs, 

 is the identical pair which I watched for a whole day, on 

 one occasion, with the field-glasses. The eggs measure — 

 (a) 1.58 X 1. 10 inches ; {U) 1.57 x 1.09 inches. 



It is a common sight now to see the Tooth-bills up in the 

 trees — their play-grounds are, in the majority of cases, in a 

 neglected and unkept state. 



To-day (9th December) I found my first nest containing 

 eggs of the Large-billed Shrike-Robin {Eopsaltria inagnirostris), 

 which was built in a tree close to the back of the camp. Eggs 

 two, very like those of Eopsaltria aiistralis, only smaller, and 

 such is the case with the nest. This bird confines itself to the 

 forest, rarely going in or near a scrub. This case is an excep- 



