THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
32, wing 296, tail 510, tarsus 122. Figured. Collected in northern New South 
Wales in 1876. 
Advlt female. Head crested, like the male, which is dark brown like the hind-neck, the 
latter more or less tinged with grey ; wings, scapulars, and entire back chestnut- 
brown ; upper tad-coverts rust-brown with grey bases to the feathers which are 
much in evidence on the rump where the feathers are fluffy and many of them 
disintegrated at the tips ; middle-tail feathers and outer ones at base of outer-webs 
similar to the back, the remainder of the outer feathers dark brown slightly dis- 
integrated at the tips ; cheeks and ear-coverts dark brown hke the top of the head ; 
chin, throat, and sides of the neck dull chestnut ; breast, abdomen, and sides of 
the body pale ash-grey with a wash of pale ferruginous which is more intensified 
on the sides of the body ; thighs uniform ash-grey darker towards the knee-joint ; 
vent and under tail-coverts dusky-grey tipped with bright chestnut ; under wing- 
coverts and quill-lining glossy greyish-brown ; lower aspect of tail similar but 
darker and becoming ochreous towards the tips. Eyes hazel ; bill and feet black ; 
bare space bluish. Wing 255 mm. ; tail 400. Figured. Collected in northern New 
South Wales. 
Nest. “ Large dome shaped structure, outwardly formed of stick and twigs, dried ferns, 
mosses and black hair-like rootlets, the bottom of the nest inside being lined with 
the downy feathers ” (North). Rather like the nest of the previous species. 
Eggs. Very similar to the eggs of the previous species. 
Breeding-season. June and July. 
The whole life-history of this species seems to be that given by Gould, and 
therefore I am compelled to quote it in full. It seems that the bird is now 
approaching extinction, if this be not already achieved. 
Gould wrote : “ The first specimens that came under my notice were sent 
to me by the late F. Strange, who informed me that he met with the bird ‘ in 
the cedar brushes which skirt Turanga Creek, Richmond River.’ Like the 
M. superha, it is of a shy disposition. I spent ten days in the midst of the 
cedar brushes in the hope of learning something of its nidification, but did 
not succeed in finding any nest with eggs ; I found, however, one large domed 
nest made of sticks and placed in the spur of a large fig tree, which the natives 
assured me was that of the Colwin, their name f or this bird ; it resembled that 
of OrtJionyx, except that the inside was not lined with moss, but with the 
litter from a large mass of parasitical plants that had fallen to the ground. 
The natives agree in asserting that the eggs are only laid in the cold weather, 
by which I apprehend they mean the spring, as I shot a young bird about 
four months old, on the 24th of November, which had the whole of the body 
still covered with a brown and greyish down. I have seen this species take 
some extraordinary jumps of not less than ten feet from the ground on to a 
convenient branch, whence it continues to ascend in successive leaps, until it 
has attained a suflflcient elevation to enable it to take flight into the gully 
below.” 
410 
