BY W. J. RAINBOW. 
355 
that, riding through the bush in the autumn, they have seen 
skeletons of small birds hanging in the webs of " triantelopes," as 
they are pleased to call them. Mr. J. A. Thorpe, of the Australian 
Museum, Sydney, has informed the author that at Madden's, near 
Belle Plains, he has met with specimens of the emu wren (Stipi- 
tartcs malachurus) entangled in the sticky meshes of the webs of 
spiders of the genus Nephila; also at Cape York, he had seen 
several of the blue-warblers, notably Malum* amabilis, Gould, 
and M. Brownii, Yig. et Horsfield, that had fallen victims in a like 
manner. It must be noted, however, that it is only young birds 
or those of a weak wing-power that are so captured. An Indian 
writer states that in many unfrequented dark nooks of the jungle 
the traveller comes across most perfect skeletons of small birds 
caught in the powerful snares of the Nephilce, the strong folds of 
which prevent the delicate bones from falling to the ground after 
the wind and weather, together with other agencies, have dispersed 
the flesh and feathers. Further, a naturalist, writing under the 
nom-de -plume " H. A. H.,"from Cashar, to the Asian, stated that 
he had " received from a neighbouring planter an adult female 
of the three-toed Kingfisher which was found entangled in a 
spider's web. Although true Kingfishers, these lovely birds feed 
largely on insects. Curiously enough," continued the writer, "the 
stomach of the last bird I preserved contained a large brown 
spider. Doubtless the bird went either for the spider or some 
insect caught in the web, and got entangled in the sticky 
meshes." 
Some writers on this subject have supposed, and even boldly 
asserted, that birds so caught were devoured by the spiders in 
whose webs they had become entrapped, but this conclusion is in 
my opinion erroneous. In 1831 the late W. S. Macleay, F.Z.S., 
in a paper* communicated to the Zoological Society, London, 
wrote : — " Now, it is certainly possible that the net of Nephila 
should, in accord with Labat's account, accidentally arrest such 
small birds as are several species of Trochilidce; but I do not 
* Trans. Zool. Soc. 1884, pp. 192-3. 
X 
