120 
MENUEIDiB. 
in front of the nest, the egg or tlie young bird can easily be seen 
in it. The female enters the nest head first, and then turns round 
and settles herself on the egg, with her tail sometimes over her 
back, but more often bent round by her side. Thus in time the 
tail becomes quite askew, and is a tolerable guide to the length of 
time the bird has been sitting. 
The nests are for the most part placed on the darker side of the 
gullies and ravines. They arc large, oval, domed structures, with 
the entrance in the front, and are usually placed on the ground at the 
foot of some stump or tree, or by the side of a fallen log ; sometimes 
they are placed on a ledge of rock in the face of the cliff’ at a 
considerable height from the ground ; occasionally a nest is found 
in the end of a log which has been hollowed out by fire and formed 
in the shape of a scoop. They are always built on some solid 
foundation, nor do I see how such a bulky and loosely built 
structure could hold together if placed otherwise ; great care must 
be taken in moving the nests to prevent their falling to pieces. 
I have now before me three nests :—No. 1, taken from the hollow 
end of a log; No. 2, from a ledge of rock ; while the third was 
found by the side of a fallen tree. No. 2 is composed of fine roots 
and Hymenopliyllum tunbridyense, with pieces of Hypnum, and 
lined with feathers ; this nest is much more neat, smaller than the 
others, and looked very beautiful while the ferns and moss, which 
covered the whole of the outside were fresh and green. Nos. 1 
and 3 are much the same in appearance and size, being large, oval 
dome-shaped structures of sticks, twigs, and roots, interwoven 
loosely with pieces of bark and moss, roots of ferils, and fronds of 
Pteris aquilina; the inside is lined with rootlets, and finally, the 
long loose feathers from the flanks and backs of the birds. The 
entrance, which is in the side (or front), is not covered with a 
hood, nor does its upper edge hang over so as to conceal the egg- 
The lower edge, if anything, protrudes slightly in all the nests I 
have examined. The total length of the nest is twenty-six inches, 
height twelve, and width eighteen inches ; the entrance is five or 
six inches in diameter, and its lower edge four and a-half in 
thickness. The whole of the interior is lined with feathers, which 
