THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Immature. — Very similar to the adults but duller. 
Nest. “ Dome shaped with hooded side opening. Composed of bark or bark fibre, 
coated with fine green moss and a slight addition of cobwebs and the silky covering 
of the egg-bags of spiders. Lined with feathers and fine bark fibre. The upper 
portion of the nest, where it is attached to the ceiling of the cave, is formed almost 
entirely of cobweb. Measurements 10 inches long by 4| wide.” (North.) 
Eggs. Clutch, three. White. 20 mm. -15. 
Breeding-season. August to December. (Two broods). 
Lewin figured this beautiful bird and Caley also collected it, and so did 
Robert Brown. Caley’ s notes read: “ Cataract Bird: an inhabitant of rocky 
ground. While at the Waterfall of Carrung-gurring, about thirty miles to the 
southward of Prospect Hill, I saw several of them. I have also seen them in 
the North Rocks, about a couple of miles from Paramatta : and always upon 
the rocks. I never observed them in trees or bushes.” 
Gould wrote : “ The true habitat of this species is New South Wales, 
over which part of the country it is very generally distributed wherever situa- 
tions occur suitable to its habits ; water courses and the rocky beds of gullies, 
both near the coast and among the mountains of the interior, being equally 
frequented by it ; and so exclusively in fact is it confined to such situations 
that it never visits the forests, nor have I ever seen it perching on the branches 
of the trees. It does not even resort to them as a resting place for its nest, but 
suspends it to the ceilings of caverns and the under-surface of overhanging 
rocks in a manner that is most surprising ; the nest, which is of an oblong globular 
form, and composed of moss and other similar substances, is suspended by a 
narrow neck, and presents one of the most singular instances of bird-architecture 
that has yet come under my notice. Its food consists of insects of various 
kinds. Its note is a low squeaking sound, which it utters while hopping about 
the rocks with its tail raised above the level of the body, after the manner of 
some Acanthizcey 
Ramsay stated : “ The Rock- War bier is a very pleasing and lively little 
bird, and seems to love solitude. I have never seen it perch on a tree, although 
I have spent several evenings in watching it. It runs with rapidity over the 
ground, and over heaps of rubbish left by floods, where it seems to get a good 
deal of its food. Sometimes it will remain for a minute on the point of a rock, 
then, as if falling over the edge, repeat its shrill cry, and dash off into some 
hole in the cliffs. The nest is of an oblong form, very large for the size of the 
bird, with an entrance in the side about two inches wide. It is generally 
suspended under some overhanging rock, and is composed of fibrous roots 
interwoven with spider’s webs ; the bird evincing a preference for those webs 
which contain the spider’s eggs, and that are of a greenish colour. The moss 
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