134 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



Frost exhibited Diu7-is alba; Miss Cochrane, Miss Roberts, and 

 Mr. J. E. Dixon also exhibited flowers, sedges, and grasses. 



This record is somewhat imperfect, as exhibitors in many cases 

 omitted to furnish notes of their exhibits to the hon. secretaries, 

 consequently some noteworthy plant may have been omitted in 

 foregoing notes. 



A VERITABLE NEST AND EGG OF A BIRD OF 



PARADISE {PTILORHIS VICTORIA). 



By a. J. Campbell, F.L.S. 



Much interest is attached to the Birds of Paradise, as also to 

 their nests and eggs, very few of which have yet been discovered. 

 It is known that we possess a genus (three species) of these 

 beautiful birds in Eastern Australia — I refer to the Rifle Birds. 



There has been much speculation about the Rifle Birds' nests 

 and eggs, and one often hears curious descriptions about them by 

 persons who — if one believe them — have either seen or taken the 

 nest and eggs. A person will tell you he positively saw two 

 nests last year in the " big scrub," lined entirely with shed skins 

 of snakes — a most astonishing assertion. Another will inform you 

 he had seen the eggs — oh, yes, frequently ; that they were four in 

 number and "whitish" (a very indefinite colour, to say the least 

 of it), and that their resting-place was a hollow on the horizontal 

 limb of a fig tree, which the birds scoop out ! Gould states that^ 

 according to the testimony of the natives, the Rifle Birds lay 

 white eggs in holes of trees. But during a recent excursion to 

 the Richmond River district of New South Wales, the blacks 

 informed me they had seen nearly every bird's " kin-dei " (nest) 

 except that of the "Bung-bung" (Rifle Bird). It may be observed 

 that Gould says the native name for the Rifle Bird is " Yass." 

 That is the name given by the tribes on the Clarence River. 



What reliable information I could glean from the whites was 

 that the young birds, which are exceedingly clamorous, are first 

 heard and seen about the middle of January, and that the old 

 birds lay during December, and as my visit was early in 

 November, I was evidently too early as far as the Richmond 

 River species (P. paradisea) was concerned. 



September, 1885, accompanied by two sons of our member, 

 Mr. A. Coles, I visited the Barnard Islands, off the eastern coast 

 of Northern Australia, hoping thereby to procure the eggs of the 

 smallest Rifle Bird {P. victorice). Again, unfortunately, I was too 

 early, as the dissection of some of the females proved. A season 

 or two subsequently Mr. French, F.L.S. , kindly presented me with 

 a nest and egg of this species from the Cardwell Scrub, for de- 

 scription, the authenticity of which he entertained not the slightest 



