CHOCOLATE-BIRD 
271 
favourite spot for them. Curiously enough for such 
a bush-loving bird, a few have at times lived in 
the Eastern Park, and in 1904 to my knowledge a 
pair nested there. 
It is rather less in size than the Sparrow, which 
in its mode of flight it resembles ; it has a brown 
back with white breast, strongly striped longitudinally 
with blackish brown. These stripes are easily visible, 
and with the white superciliary stripe are characteristic 
distinguishing marks. 
It usually feeds in pairs on the ground in timbered 
country where there are many fallen logs and branches 
lying about ; when disturbed, the birds fly up with a 
chirp, and settle, perhaps, thirty yards farther on : 
they are very easy to approach. In the breeding- 
season, say early October to December, they have a 
varied and pleasing little song, not loud but sweet. 
They fly at a height of from 10 to 12 feet, and 
perch readily on bushes and trees when flushed from 
the ground. 
For the nest a slightly-rounded hollow is first scraped 
out in the ground under the shelter of a tuft of herbage ; 
in this is built a neat, domed nest of grass, with side 
entrance. It is one of the hardest nests to find, unless 
you see the bird carrying building-material or flush 
her from it at your feet as you walk. The eggs are 
usually three, of a warm reddish-chocolate colour, 
sometimes with a few dark spots. 
