544 



PERCHING BIRDS. 



and more especially beetles, they commence nesting in May ; the eggs being laid 

 in June, and the young hatched in the following month. The nest is constructed 

 of small sticks, interwoven with moss and fibres of roots ; while internally it is 

 lined with the skeleton leaf of the parasitical tree-fern, which in texture resembles 



horse-hair ; the whole 



structure being roofed 



in, and entered by an 



aperture on one side. 



But one egg is laid, 



and this is of a very dark colour, looking almost as though it had been smeared 



over with ink ; the young bird, which is coated with down for the first month, 



remains in the nest for a period of about six weeks. 



H. A. MACPHERSON. 



