THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 61 



positions in which they are placed, or for some other feature 

 rendering them particularly worthy of notice. 



Commencing at the head of the Australian representatives of 

 the order accipitres or birds of prey we have the wedge-tailed 

 eagle (Aquila audaxj which corresponds here to the golden- 

 headed eagle of Europe. This bird builds an immense struc- 

 ture, measuring between five and six feet in diameter, and com- 

 posed of dead boughs and twigs ; this it locates in the topmost 

 branches of the highest eucalyptus to be found in the neigh- 

 bourhood, in the absence of those rocky cliffs in which the 

 golden-headed eagle finds so congenial a home. Another 

 member of this tribe, the nankeen kestrel ( Tinnunculus cen- 

 chroides) often occupies the deserted nest of the crow or other 

 bird in preference to undertaking the more laborious task of 

 building one for itself. 



Most of our larger birds use dry twigs as the material for 

 their nests ; but the nests vary in structure considerably more 

 than do the birds themselves. On the one hand we have the 

 dome-shaped nest of the lyre-bird placed close to the ground 

 amongst the ferns in some secluded gully, having an opening 

 on one side, into which the female steps backwards, leaving the 

 end of her tail protruding above her head, or again, that of the 

 magpie or crow-shrike, which is cup-shaped in form, and built 

 in tolerably high trees ; and on the other, the miserably con- 

 structed nest of the podargus (commonly, though probably 

 erroneously, known as the "more-pork"), which consists of a 

 few twigs placed in a horizontal fork, and falls to pieces on any 

 attempt to remove it from its position. 



A nest of an entirely different class is that of the New South 

 Wales oriole. This nest is semi-globular in form, and is com- 

 posed of thin strips of bark carefully interwoven with other 

 fibrous materials and lined with grass, and forms a very compact 

 structure. It is mostly placed amongst the leafy boughs of the 

 eucalyptus sapling, and, as the birds are generally in the 

 vicinity echoing forth their monotonous and peculiar cry, it is 

 easily discovered by the collector. 



Another compact and well-made nest is that of the mountain 

 thrush. It is composed of twigs, mosses (principally Lycopo- 

 dium), and dried grass, with which latter substance it is lined, 

 and is placed in a strong fork of the ti-tree, seldom more than 

 five or six feet from the ground ; and as its colour very closely 

 assimilates to the surrounding objects, it is very liable to be 

 passed unnoticed unless the female is seen to dart from close 

 beside you, and to commence those antics common to so many 

 species of the bird tribe, by which she will try to allure you 

 <"rom her nest. Mr. Campbell, in his book on the " Oology of 

 Australian Birds," mentions that he believes this to be the only 

 Australian species which reconstructs and adds to its old nest 



