THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
week in September, 1908, that these birds were heard making their peculiar 
‘ saw-sharpening ’ cackle,* and that generally in the evening, beginning 
soon after dusk. They also have a peculiar grunting noise which they make 
running, as they do, with their necks stretched downwards. Both birds assist 
building the nest. They pull up some of the tussocks by the roots and lay them 
across the place chosen for the nest, where they tramp them down with their 
feet. The lining used is principally soft round reeds found growing in the 
deeper waters. Sometimes a few small water-lily leaves are added. 
“ Both birds attend the young, which leave the nest almost at once after 
hatching. In one instance the birds reared a second brood in the same nest. 
“ The eggs are laid every day and the birds sit as soon as the last egg is laid. 
“ During the evening and early morning of the breeding-season these birds 
are very noisy, chasing one another through the reeds, and making their loud 
crake or saw-sharpening noise. 
‘ ‘ The birds feed on dock and thistle seeds. I have seen them digging in the 
ground on the plains and they appeared to be eating grubs. They will also trail 
up and down the furrows of a newly-ploughed field. They are very destructive 
to grain ; and stock refuse to graze where they have been.” 
Nests were observed from the ground level, to some placed six feet up in a 
wfilow tree. The nests that are placed in conspicuous positions are generally 
not used for laying in, but are only decoy nests. 
A sitting bird when disturbed slips off her nest and runs away, but its 
manner of running always betrays ownership of a nest or hidden young. 
Crows often hunt these birds in pans ; one Crow will frighten a hen off her 
nest and chase her away some distance, while the other Crow wiU fly off with the 
eggs. 
Mr. A. M. SwindeUs says : “ The young take to the water as soon as they 
are hatched and swim well. The adult will swim and dive with almost the ease 
of a Cormorant and can ford the strongest rapids.” 
I am indebted to Mr. Frank Littler, Mr. Robert Hall and Mr. A. M. Swmdells 
for skins of this species, and to Miss Fletcher for some clutches of their eggs. 
The bird figured and described is a male, and Was collected by Mr. James 
Taylor, in Tasmania, in December, 1862. 
* Wlien making this sound, the bii'ds dart backwards and forwards. 
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