2 
“ The egg is supposed to be blue,” says Dr. 
Bennett, writing of the Regent Bird, in his 
“Gatherings of a Naturalist in Australasia,” but 
he gives us no ground for the supposition, and 
he adds, “ if this should be the case, it will be 
the only bird with a blue egg in Australia.’’ 
In this latter statement he is in error, the egg 
of Sphenostoma Cristatum is blue ; anything 
more beautiful than the nest of this bird can 
hardly be conceived. In the solitude of the 
Salt Plains, near what was formerly known as 
Lake Torrens, this bird breeds in numbers in 
the dwarf bushes. In one I found a nest 
made of fine twigs and everlasting flowers 
(XeranthemumJ) and in it four blue eggs. The 
egg of Meliphaga Tenuirostris is also blue. To 
resume — it is somewhat singular that the 
eggs of these birds should not have been found 
in females on dissection. Now, I think that I 
can safely say, that I have examined some hun- 
dreds without in any instance, finding an 
appearance of breeding ; and this applies to 
birds killed in Victoria,* New South Wales, 
and Queensland. The great stronghold of the 
Satin Bird is, without doubt, the Illawarra and 
Gipps’ Land ; there the bowers are found in 
great numbers, and there the birds are seen at 
all seasons. I have not resided there the 
whole of any one year; but have passed 
months at intervals. My experience leads me 
to think that the bird builds there in the vines 
and in the vicinity of the bower. 
With us the Satin and Regent Birds are 
migratory, the Satin Birds making their appear- 
ance in April or May. They are then a mixed 
flock of adult males, females and young birds ; 
but at other seasons of the year I am inclined 
to think that the old males separate themselves 
from the flocks j for some years ago, down on 
Narang Creek, at the south end of Moreton 
Bay, I killed a dozen blackcocks feeding on 
the flowers and seeds of the nettle tree 
( Urtica gig as) without once seeing a female* 
The fact of there being districts in which the 
birds are seen at all seasons of the year is 
not, I admit, a proof of their breeding there* 
Pelicans are seen all the year in Moreton Bay> 
but the eggs have never, that I am aware, been 
found there, and the natives deny that they 
breed in the islands. 
The nest of the Cat Bird (another of the 
family) has been found, and I had the good 
* The Regent Bird is not found in Victoria. 
fortune to see it. It was obtained in the dense 
vine scrubs of the Clarence. It measured about 
nine inches across, was hemispherical, and made 
entirely of the fine native vines ; unfortunately 
the bird had not laid. This bird breeds with 
us. I have seen the old birds feeding the 
young in the Three-mile Scrub. 
The specimens of the Satin Bird, and the 
bower in the case now before the meeting, were 
obtained at Witton, on the River Brisbane, a 
few miles from the city. The finding of the 
bower of the Satin Bird in this district is a 
very rare oceurrence. I have ranged the scrubs 
here for many years without seeing or hearing 
of one being found ; and this again is, to some 
extent, negative evidence for the Regent Bird ; 
for, as that is likewise a migratory bird it may 
only rarely form its bower in the settled or 
disturbed districts. 
There is another interesting fact disclosed on 
a close examination of this bower ; it is not the 
work of one season — the greater portion is old 
— but the birds were repairing it when I killed 
the old cock. They had been noticed in con- 
siderable numbers there two seasons before. 
There were no shells nor feathers ; the absence 
of the latter may be accounted for by the birds 
having only recently commenced putting it in 
order. The feathers accumulated the previous 
season would be carried off by birds for their 
nests. In other localities, however, the bower s 
are found beautifully adorned. I will, before 
quitting this part of the subject, mention one 
which I found in the Illawarra. There was a 
platform of twigs about a yard square ; this 
was covered with bright green moss growing 
between the interstices of the platform ; and in 
the centre the most perfectly finished bower 
that I ever saw. The twigs of which it was 
formed were slender and unbroken, arching 
over, nearly meeting at the top, about the same 
height as the present, and quite new. It was 
decorated with feathers and snail shells, and> 
among other things, a piece of “ willow” china. 
The black cock is constantly shifting the feath- 
ers about the bower, and after fixing one, stands 
erect, glances proudly around, and pours forth 
his loud liquid call. The bower is not the work 
of one bird ; all the family appear to join in 
its construction, and either race through and 
about it, or sit on the boughs overhanging it, 
uttering a peculiar grinding note, while the 
black cock is performing all sorts of antics in 
and about it. 
