THE VICTOKIAN NATURALIST. 9 



object lesson on the actual method that may be adopted in 

 hunting up the literature of any subject. When one knows the 

 country it is easy for him to find his way about, but to the 

 stranger it is not easy, and he needs the finger-posts which 

 the other never heeds. So it is with work of this kind. " Cor. II." 

 is good enough for the specialist, but is a meaningless " blaze" 

 for the "new chum." It hardly seems necessary to insist on the 

 fact that the mere labelling of a specimen with a name is not the 

 end of natural history ; but identification is a step, and a 

 necessary one, if we are to communicate to others any observa- 

 tions we may make. f 

 The principles I have sketched will, of course, apply not 

 merely to a hunt for a name, but also to a hunt in the literature 

 in any branch on which we want to learn something of what has 

 been done elsewhere by other observers. 



DESCRIPTIONS OF THE NESTS AND EGGS OF SIX 

 SPECIES OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



By Alfred J. North, C.M.Z.S., Ornithologist, Australian 

 Museum, Sydney. 



While examining various ornithological and oological collectiipns 

 recently in Melbourne I observed in Mr. G. A. Keartland's col- 

 lection four species of Australian birds' eggs that, so far as I am 

 aware, have not been previously described. An egg of Chlamy- 

 dodera guttata, from Central Australia, subsequently received, he 

 handed me for description on the day I left Melbourne ; and yei 

 another addition — the egg of Melit'hreptus loitior, from North- 

 west Australia — I received from him shortly after my return to 

 Sydney. 



Chlamydodera guttata, Gould (Guttated Bower-bird). 



Ever since specimens of the Guttated Bower-bird were obtained 

 by the Horn Exploring Expedition at Glen Edith, in Central Aus- 

 tralia, our indefatigable member, Mr. Keartland, has unceasingly 

 urged his many friends in the interior of Australia to try and dis- 

 cover the nest and egg of this interesting species. Towards the 

 latter end of last year Mr. C. E. Cowle, of Illamurta, who has 

 been successful in obtaining many undescribed or liitle-known eggs 

 in Central Australia, " caught a newly-fledged Guttated Bower- 

 bird in a scrubby Mulga in one of the valleys south of Mareena 

 Bluff. Near the top of this tree, in a .'silvery-white mistletoe,' a 

 nest was constructed of a few dried black Cotton-bush tops, and 

 lined with coarse grass stalks. Externally it measured eight inches 

 in diameter, and internally about four inches and a half." Mr. 

 Cowle further adds— " Viewed from below the nest would be 

 taken for an unfinished one not worthy of inspection, and I was 



