MAGNIFICENT RIFLE-BIRD. 
more than a passing glimpse of it in the dense brushes which it inhabits; I 
once, however, saw' a female running up the trunk of a tree like a Creeper, 
and its stomach was aftenvards found to be filled with insects only, chiefly 
ants; while the stomach of a male, shot about the same time, contained merely 
a few small round berries, the fruit of a tall tree, the botanical name of which 
is imknowm to me.” 
Barnard has 'written : “ Fairly plentiful in the scrubs. Their loud whistle 
is frequently heard, being different from the caU of the southern species in 
that respect. Nesting-sites: generally a clump of pandanus or screw palms, 
the nests being hidden at the butts of the long leaves, at heights varying from 
3 to 30 feet from the ground. The nest is composed of large dead leaves and 
vine tendrils very loosely put together. Unhke the tw'o southern species, the 
Albert Rifle-Bird does not decorate its nest -with snake skins. I examined about 
fifty nests, and did not find snake skins in a single instance. Tw'o eggs form 
a clutch. If a nest were found containing one egg, and left untouched in order 
to secure the full clutch, on returning next day the egg was sure to have dis¬ 
appeared ; but if a single egg were taken and the nest visited on the folio-wing 
day, the second egg w'ould be found in the nest. I had the same experience 
during my former visit to the locality in 1896. The male bird is never seen 
near the nest.” 
The prevdous trip by Barnard was reported upon by Le Souef, and 
Campbell added some notes, stating that Barnard took fourteen clutches of 
eggs, but I don’t think Barnard killed many birds. 
Macgflli-vray (the younger) has written : “ This bird, though fairly common 
still in the Cape York scrubs, has suffered a great diminution in numbers, 
mainly through the depredations of scientific collectors. One man alone 
obtained over seventy skins. It is difficult to imagine why any museum or 
investigator should require so large a number. The number of skins taken 
for scientific purposes should be limited, and the large areas of scrub on this 
Peninsula should be made a sanctuary for the birds, else in a few years they 
will be a thing of the past as well as many other rare and interesting species. 
They keep to the scrub, where their ordinary call, two sharp whistles, is often 
heard. During the nesting-season this call alters to three sharp whistles and 
a long sonorous one to finish up with. They feed mostly on wild fruits of 
various kinds.” 
He added later : “ On my second day on the Claudie, when Mir. McLennan 
and I w'ere on our way down the river in a dinghy, a female Albert Rifle-Bird 
flew across in front of us, closely follow'ed by a fine male. On our way back 
we tied up the boat and entered the scrub. We soon found a ragged-looking 
nest 20 feet up in a fork of a thin tree. A female Rifle-Bird flew from it, and 
381 
