THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
bird, seldom more than two being seen together. Its often repeated cry of 
cri-cri-cri-crite betrays its presence, when its nature haunts, the most retired 
parts of the forest, are visited. Its chief food consists of insects, their larvse, 
and woodbugs. It builds a large domed nest, of slender mosses ; the entrance 
being by a lateral hole near the bottom. The eggs are white and dispro- 
portionately large. The situation of the nest is the side of a slanting rock or 
large stone, the entrance hole being level with the surface.” 
Mr. J. W. Mellor has written me : “ These birds I have met with fre- 
quently in upper New South Wales and Queensland, in which latter State I 
saw them about the thick humid scrubs of the Blackall Ranges in November 
1910 ; they delight to live in the deep recesses where shade and shelter is 
abundant, and here you may hear a scratching noise amongst the dead and 
decaying leaves, and by keeping perfectly still the birds will come into 
sight ; they scratch about in much the same manner as the common fowl, 
their large claws serving them a good purpose in displacing the dead leaves 
and debris, under which they get their insect food in abundance ; they are 
said to be log-runners, but my experience with them is that they keep to the 
ground as described and rarely come upon the fallen timbers, although in 
such places as described the rotten logs lay thickly around. I noted them 
on the Tweed River, also on the Richmond and Clarence Rivers in New 
South Wales, where their habits are precisely the same.” 
Dr. Cleland wrote : “In dense semi-tropical jungle at Thirrone I was 
attracted by a scratching noise and seeing the dead leaves twirled about like 
a hen scratching, which proved to be due to this bird.” 
Mr. Edwin Ashby has sent me the following note : “In the end of September 
1903 I spent a few days in the Blackall Range, South Queensland, and there 
found this bird fairly common. From my personal observations I should say 
that the name ‘ Log-Runner ’ is inappropriate, as the bird does not run but 
hops. They search for food amongst the dead leaves and fallen logs in the 
rich tropical growth, their movements making as much noise as a large bird 
or fowl. On one occasion one of these birds was searching for food amongst 
the debris under a fallen log a few paces from where I was standing, when it 
eommenced to make a peculiar noise, which brought quite a large company 
of the same species to the other side of the log, the newcomers keeping up, 
with the one first seen, a sort of swearing competition for quite a long time ; 
I could not see the new party without climbing over the large log, so could not 
see actually what they were doing, and when I attempted to get a nearer view 
they dispersed.” 
Mr. Thos. P. Austin has written me : “ While in the Atherton scrubs, 
North Queensland, during the last week of October 1907, I often saw small 
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