50 I^ETTER FROM MR. E. P. RAMSAY. [Jail. 23, 



being constructed of rough material, such as large sticks, stringy 

 bark*, and dead ferns (Pieris aquilina) ; others of very fine rootlets 

 and pieces of Hymenophyllum tunbridgense, which makes a remark- 

 ably neat nest. Braisher, the most successful of my collectors, who 

 also procured the young birds, called upon me a few days ago with 

 some of the eggs, when I took the opportunity of getting all the 

 particulars res))ecting the uidification. I find that in no instance 

 did he meet with more than one egg or one young bird in the same 

 nest. The birds commence to build in May, and lay their eggs in 

 June and July. The female is not fed by the male while she is sit- 

 ting, nor has Braisher ever observed the male bird near the place 

 after she has laid her egg. The female frequently leaves her egg 

 during tlic middle of the day to search for food. This may account 

 lor the length of time taken in the hatching, which sometimes 

 extends over a month. The young do not leave the nest until they 

 are eight or ten weeks old. When one is standing in front of the 

 nest, the egg or the young bird can easily be seen in it. The 

 female enters the nest head Jirst, and then turns round and settles 

 herself on the egg, with her tail sometimes over her back, but more 

 of lea bent round by her side. Thus in time the tail becomes quite 

 askew, and is a tolerable guide to the length of time the bird has 

 been sitting. 



"■ The nests are for the most part placed on the darker side of the 

 gullies and ravines. They are large, oval, domed structures, with 

 the entrance in the front, are usually placed on the ground, at the 

 foot of some stump or tree, by the side of a fallen log ; sometimes 

 they are placed on a ledge of rock in the face of a cliff at a consi- 

 derable height from the ground ; occasionally a nest is found in the 

 end of a log which has been hollowed out by fire and formed in the 

 shape of a scoop. They are always built on some solid foundation ; 

 nor do I see how such a bulky and loosely built structure could hold 

 together if placed otherwise ; great care must be taken in moving 

 the nests to prevent their falling to pieces. I have now before me 

 three nests: — No. 1, taken from the hollow end of a log; No. 2, 

 from a ledge of rock ; while the third was found by the side of a 

 fallen tree. No. 2 is composed of fine roots and Hymenophyllum 

 tunbridgense, with pieces of Hypnum, and lined with feathers ; 

 this nest is much more neat, smaller than the others, and looked 

 very beautiful while the ferns and moss which covered the whole 

 of the outside were fresh and green. Nos. 1 and 3 are much the 

 same in appearance and size, being large, oval, dome-shaped struc- 

 tures of sticks, twigs, and roots interwoven loosely with pieces of 

 bark and moss, roots of ferns, and fronds of Pteris aquilina ; the 

 inside is lined with rootlets and, finally, the long loose feathers from 

 the fianks and backs of the birds. The entrance, which is in the 

 side (or front), is not covered with a hood, nor does its upper edge 

 hang over so as to conceal the egg. The lower edge, if anything, 

 protrudes shghtly in all the nests I have examined. The total length 



* The inuer bark of Eucalyptus, used as ties by the bushmcu for almost all 

 purposes. 



