194 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



unwisely broke the egg, just as other species of birds have been 

 known to do — the Blue Wren, Malurus cyaneus, and the Black 

 Duck, Anas superciliosus. As a matter of fact, subsequently I 

 handled two eggs of a pair of the same species, and the following 

 day they were thrown out. This demonstrates to me the sensi- 

 tiveness of one or both of the sexes, probably the female, as it is 

 she that does all the building of the nest, and, of course, all the 

 laying of eggs, so any interference beyond that of her partner 

 would naturally frighten so timid a bird as she is at this time of 

 the year. While the 24th November nest had three fresh eggs in 

 it, the 19th September nest had three fledglings. A second, or 

 more probably a third, brood was in the former nest. 



Mr. George Graham, of Heytesbury Forest, has observed for 

 me during the past season the following nesting actions of a 

 pair : — " On 10th August the female commenced to build a nest 

 twenty feet from the ground, and in a small fork of a eucalypt. 

 It compactly built the frame of it with strips of " messmate " bark 

 and cobwebs. On the 18th inst. a lining of rabbits' fur and 

 feathers, &c, was commenced ; finally the nest agreeing so well 

 with its surroundings that it was difficult to detect. On the 30th 

 inst. the first egg was laid, and the second on the 31st inst. The 

 young hatched out on the 16th September, the crown, back, and 

 shoulders being mostly covered with light-grey down. On 23rd Sep- 

 tember the wing quills and the feathers of the back appeared. On 

 the latter day the young disappeared, but not of their own accord, 

 as the eyes were not quite, though nearly, open. By analogy the 

 young should have remained in their nest two days longer. The 

 nest being tilted, I righted it, and waited for the owners. In the 

 meantime I watched a Laughing Jackass, Dacelo gigas, perched 

 near me, and read enough by its actions to form the opinion it 

 was the culprit. Both parents soon returned, the male, with a 

 worm in its bill, following the female, which quietly flew into the 

 nest, and settled down upon it as if covering the tender brood. 

 The mother now rose with a pang of surprise at not finding its 

 young, and the parents then flew round in a very much distressed 

 state of mind. With this I left them." 



Mr. Graham says the female does all the work of incubation, 

 and as it builds the whole of its nest, it would be interesting to 

 know if the male does all the feeding. It certainly does some. 

 Two young birds kept in captivity for two months near Box Hill 

 freely ate insects and bread crumbs. The male camps at night 

 in the lower portions of the trees adjacent to the nest, as also 

 does the family, subsequently, for some weeks. How many is 

 not certain, and it probably depends on how many broods and 

 the time of the season with which they may be concerned. The 

 Box Hill birds are away from the parents by January, and the 

 Heytesbury ones by January or February, accordingly as the 



