INTRODUCTION. 
lii 
268. Chlamydera maculata, Gould — . | Vol. IV. PL 8. 
Inhabits South Australia, New South Wales, and according to Mr. Gilbert's Journal of his overland journey to 
Port Essington, the intertropical regions of the east coast. 
In one of Mr, Gilbert’s many interesting letters received since the account aboye referred to was printed, he 
says, ‘the question as to the nidification of Chlamydera is now settled by Mr. C. Coxen having found a woe in 
December with three young birds ; in form it was very similar to that of the common Thrush of Europe, being of 
a cup-shape, constructed of dried sticks with a slight lining of feathers, and fine grass, and was placed among the 
”? 
smaller branches of an Acacia overhanging a pool of water, 
259. Chlamydera nuchalis ; , : . . ‘ol. IV. Pl. 9. 
“JT found matter for conjecture,” says Captain Stokes, “in noticing a number of twigs with their ends stuck 
in the ground, which was strewed over with shells, and their tops brought together so as to form a small bower ; 
this was 27 feet long, 13. foot wide at either end. It was not until my next visit to Port Essington that I thought 
this anything but some Australian mother’s toy to amuse her child; there I was asked, one day, to go and see the 
*Inrds’ playhouse,’ when I immediately recognised the same kind of construction I had seen at the Victoria River ; 
the bird (Chlamydera nuchalis of Mr, Gould’s work) was amusing itself by flying backwards and forwards, taking 
a shell alternately from each side, and carrying it through the archway in its mouth.”—Discoveries in Australia, 
vol. ti, p. 97. 
Genus Prinonornyncuus, Anhi. 
260. Ptilonorhynchus holosericeus, Kuhl ’ ; 3 ; ; ; : ‘ Vol. IV. Pl. 10. 
That this bird continues its singular habits under the diadvantages of captivity, I learn from the following 
passage in a letter lately received from Mr. Strange of Sydney. 
““ My aviary is now tenanted by a pair of Satin Birds, which I had hoped would have bred, as for the last two 
months they have been constantly engaged in constructing bowers, which I find are built for the express purpose 
of courting the female in. Both sexes assist in their erection, but the male is the principal workman. At times 
the male will chase the female all over the aviary, then go to the bower, pick up a gay feather or a large leaf, utter 
a curious kind of noise, set all his feathers erect, and run round the bower, into which at length the female pro- 
ceeds, when he becomes so excited that his eyes appear ready to start from his head, and he continues opening 
first one wing and then the other, uttering a low whistling note, and like the common Cock, seems to be picking 
up something from the ground, until at last the female goes gently towards him, when, after two turns round her, 
he suddenly makes a dash and the scene ends.” This pair of birds was sent to England by Mr. Strange for the 
Earl of Derby, and had they not unfortunately died from cold when rounding Cape Horn, they would doubtless 
have continued their singular habits in his lordship’s magnificent aviary at Knowsley. 
The habitat of this species appears to be confined to the south-eastern part of New South Wales, for it has 
not as yet been found in any other portion of the country. 
261. Ptilonorhynchus Smithii, Vig. § Horsf. : Vol, TV. Pl. 11. 
Genus Sericunus, Swains. 
A single species only of this form has yet been discovered. 
262. Sericulus chrysocephalus ' : : ; : Vol. IV. Pl. 12. 
Sericulus magnirostris, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soe., Part V. p, 145; and in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part IV. 
Younes. 
The brushes of the south-eastern part of Australia is the only locality in which this bird has yet been found. 
