THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
attract one’s attention when in their neighbourhood, not only by their notes, 
but also by their curious antics when on the wing and their habit, if 
disturbed when nesting, of darting into holes in trees, apparently to mislead 
the intruder as to the hollow in which their eggs really are. They make 
no nest, the eggs being placed on the decayed wood at the bottom of the 
hollow.” 
In the Emu (Vol. IX., p. 6, 1909) J. P. Rogers’ notes were given as 
follows : “ Parry’s Creek, North- west Australia. First arrived here on 9th 
September. Their favourite restmg-place is the topmost branch of a dead 
tree. They always keep near a creek or water-hole. As a rule they are 
noisy. They are scattered along Parry’s Creek every half mile or so, 
and they always keep near the same spot. I have sent my black boy up 
several trees, but so far have found no nests. The stomach of one killed 
contained a quantity of cockchafers, which were crushed and swallowed 
whole.” 
Miss Cheney, of the Wangaratta District, Victoria, recorded {Emu, Vol. 
XrV., p. 207, 1915) : “ Locally, this was known as the ‘ Rain Bird.’ Some- 
times its arrival was coincident with bad weather, to give colour to the saying. 
It was often shot and brought to me as ‘probably the only bird of its 
kind in Australia.’ Sometimes people sent in a more or less incorrect 
description of it to the newspapers, and there was a little excitement about 
it. It was fairly common, but, owing to its frequenting the tops of taU trees, 
not often seen, unless people heard its raucous note.” 
Campbell, in his Nests and Eggs (Vol. II., p. 545, 1901), tells a story which 
is worth quotation : “ Mr. Herman Lau wrote : ‘ It was in the month of 
September I detected the breeding-place of a Roller about sixty feet from the 
ground in the knob hole of a very stout and tall eucalypt, near the McIntyre 
Brook, at Whetstone. Seeing the bird flying in and out, I waited for a week 
before sending up an aborigine to make sure that eggs were deposited. With 
great reluctance, and under promise to give him a linen coat and trousers, 
half a bottle of rum in addition to a glass before starting, I persuaded my 
climber to the task, also promising to be in readiness with my gun to shoot the 
birds in case they should attack him while taking the eggs. Now, on the way 
up there was a portion of a thick barrel, and to overcome this I provided 
him with four 6 in. nails to insert in the tree, for placing his big toe on. Just 
being in this act, both birds descended, sat soon amongst his black hair, 
pecking away, at the same time uttering their low-toned noise. Although 
my blackfellow was crying out “ Shoot ’em, shoot ’em ! ” I waited until they 
left him. Both birds were shot. I found a complete egg in the female ; my 
man taking three more out of the hole, completed the clutch (four).’ ” 
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