THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
advanced state of incubation. The bird on this nest refused to leave tiU forcibly 
ejected by means of a stick, and she returned immediately I left the nest. The 
same thing happened at Frankston on one of my visits, the old bird evidently 
knowing that the young were nearly hatched, and bemg loth to leave the nest. 
I always pity the poor Podargiis when sitting on its nest, it seems such a 
lonely, lost kind of a bird, and looks so ludicrous when blinking at me in the 
sun. I would not be bold enough to say I can tell the male at first sight alive, 
but will say that the actions of the male nearly always proclaim him. In the 
nesting-season there is no difficulty, as I have never found him on the nest ; he 
is always in the neighbourhood and generally about a quarter of a mile 
from the nest.” 
Mr. F. E. Howe wrote me, but as two different subspecies are referred to 
I interpose here some notes from Mr. Frank Littler regarding the Tasmanian 
form. He observed : “ It is active only during the night, at which time it sallies 
forth on noiseless wings and feeds on moths and other nocturnal insects. During 
the day it sits in an almost upright attitude on the dead bough of a tree ; when 
disturbed in the daytime it will fly a short distance, then perch and go to sleep. 
The cry is a rapid pulsating hooting sound, repeated many times.” 
Gould wrote : “ (In Tasmania) very numerous, as evidenced by the 
frequency with which I encountered it during my rambles over the country. 
I observed it both among the thick branches of the Casuarince and on the dead 
limbs of the Eucalypti ; it appeared, however, to evince a greater partiality for 
the latter, which it closely resembles in colour, and from the position in which 
it rests, looks so like a part of the branch itself as frequently to elude detection ; 
it is generally seen in pairs sitting near each other, and frequently on the same 
branch. Like the other members of the genus, this bird is strictly nocturnal, 
and feeds almost exclusively on insects, of which coleoptera form a large part. 
It is frequently captured and kept in captivity in Tasmania, where it excites 
attention more from the sluggishness of its nature and the singular position it 
assumes than from any other cause.” 
Mr. F. E. Howe has written me : “At Ringwood, Victoria, we often came 
across this strange bird, and it is also very common in the Bacchus Marsh district. 
Its mimiciy of a piece of dead wood is very remarkable and protective. 
Although it is nocturnal it has fairly good sight in the daytime, and when you 
chance upon it, it has already seen and is keenly watching you. The nest is 
made of fine twigs and sticks, and is placed sometimes on a horizontal bough 
or on a broken spout or in a fork from the butt. When sitting on the nest it is 
very like a grey and broken stick, the head is held well up, and the feathers 
protruding above the bill further help it to deceive you. As you stand beneath 
the tree the female (?) slightly leans over to look at you, and as you go the other 
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