64 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



to by it before this country was inhabited by the white man, 

 and the fairy martin which builds its retort-shaped nest in the 

 colonies mostly on the steep side of a watercourse, but some- 

 times under the friendly shelter of some buildings. These 

 nests are generally stuck together in groups of four or five, with 

 their funnel-shaped entrances projecting in all directions, and 

 present a most curious spectacle to the observant eye. 



Three other species which build mud nests are the magpie lark, 

 the grey struthidea ( Struthidea cinerea), and the white-winged 

 chough ( Corcorax melanoramplius ) , and it will be necessary 

 merely to describe one of these as a type. Taking that of the 

 magpie lark, we have a nest bowl-shaped in form, and constructed 

 of moist earth. In building this the bird displays great powers 

 of discrimination, for if the earth used be of a loamy nature, so 

 that it would not hold together well if used alone, it mixes grass 

 and other fibrous substances in with the soil to nind it together;, 

 whereas, if the earth used contain a sufficient amount of clay, no 

 other binding materials are used, and it is merely left to dry in 

 the sun. 



A very wonderfully-constructed nest is that of the swallow 

 dicaeum. It is purse-shaped, composed of woolly materials, and 

 has the entrance at the side. That of the grass-warbler might 

 also be mentioned. It is somewhat similar in form and material 

 to the above, but is placed in a very different position, the 

 swallow dicaeum building in the acacia and other trees, whilst 

 the cisticola hides its nest in a tuft of grass or a low shrub — so 

 skilfully that it is only by watching the bird that you can discover 

 any trace of it. 



With the curious mound-building propensities of the Mallee 

 hen others have sufficiently dealt. I might merely mention that 

 the three species of Australian birds which raise these mounds^ 

 and leave their eggs to be hatched by the heat engendered by 

 decaying vegetable matter, are the above-mentioned, the 

 megapode, and the brush turkey. Gould publishes a letter from 

 Gilbert describing the mound of the megapode 150 feet in 

 circumference, and having the eggs buried at a depth of 6 feet 

 from the top, and from 2 to 3 feet from the sides of the mound. 

 Of the natural economy of these three species very little is at 

 present known, owing to the thick and inaccessible country in 

 the interior which these birds usually choose as the situations for 

 their nests. 



[Mr. Hunt exhibited specimens of the nests of the greater 

 number of the birds mentioned in his paper. — Ed.] 



