It is very <l» »ul»t t'ul if this bird ever descends to the ground, as it has never been observed t<> 
<|<> so, and is supposed to be able to exist without water. 
Gould says: — "While traversing the trunks of trees in search of insects, which it docs with 
greal facility, it utters a shrill piping cry : in this cry, and indeed in the whole of its actions, it 
-trikingly reminded me of the Common Creeper of Europe (Cert/tin Famifiaris), particularly in its manner 
of ascending the upright trunks of the trees, commencing at the bottom and gradually creeping up the 
hole to the top, generally in a spiral direction." 
The breeding season commences in September and lasts until the beginning of January. A 
hollow branch «>r bole of a tree is the receptacle for the nest, which is made of grass, warmly lined 
with feathers. The eggs, three in nuniher, are "of a dull white, thinly speckled with fine spots of rich 
hrown, and a few larger blotches of the same colour;" they are ten lines long by eight lines broad. 
Crown of head, brown, with a black patch in the centre of each feather: back, olive-brown; 
wings, olive-brown, all the primaries and secondaries crossed in the centre by a dull buff-coloured band : 
throat and centre of abdomen, white, the latter tinged with buff; tail, grey; bill, black, the lower 
mandible horn-colour at the base ; feet, blackish-brown. 
Habitat: All the Continent of Australia, except Western Australia. 
GENUS ORTHONYX. 
TMHIS form is confined to Australia, where there are two species. 
OETHONYX SriNICAUDUS (7W) 
SPINE - TA I LED ORTHONYX. 
TMHIS is an entirely terrestrial bird found among the brushes of the southern and eastern coasts of 
■L Australia, particularly in the Illawarra District, and about the rivers in the northern part of New 
Smith Wales, such as the Manning, Macleay and Clarence. It frequents the most retired parts of the 
forest, where it may lie seen running over stones and the fallen trunks of trees, or scratching among 
decayed leaves in search of the insects on which it feeds. It much resembles the Gallinacem in the 
manner of throwing back the earth when scratching. 
The nest is a large dome - shaped structure of moss, situated on the side of a slanting rock o| 
larsre stone ; the entrance, which is by a lateral hole at the bottom, being on a level with the earth. 
The e<»gs are white and of different sizes. 
The male has the crown of the head and upper part of the back greyish-brown, with a mark 
of black on each feather; lower part of the back and upper tail-coverts, rich rufous-brown; wing -coverts, 
grey, tipped with black : primaries, black, crossed with grey at the base ; apical half of the primaries 
and tips of the secondaries, brownish-grey ; tail, dark brown ; sides of the head and neck, grey : throat 
and chest white, separated from the grey of the sides of the neck by a lunar-shaped mark of dee}) black; 
bill and feet, black : irides, hazel. 
Habitat : South and east coasts of Australia. 
