ad owes. eh OE GANS Ce linn aves ae

 

LN ROR DACs Cala OaNe .

258. Chlamydera maculata, Gould. : : : : : ; : : : : : Vol. IV. Pl. g.

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 above referred to was printed, he
says, “the question as to the nidification of Chlamydera is now settled by Mr. C. Coxen having found a nest in
December with three young birds ; m form it was very similar to that of the common Thrush of Europe, being of
a cup-shape, constructed of dried sticks with a shght lining of feathers, and fine grass, and was placed among the

. : S xp 9D
smaller branches of an Acacia overhanging a pool of water.

259. Chlamydera nuchalis é : : : : : : a: : : : : a: Vol WV. Ripe

’

“T 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 24 feet long, 1} 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
‘birds’ 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,

Oeste eno
Genus Pritonoruyncuus, Auhl.

260. Ptilonorhynchus holosericeus, Kuhl : ; , WOE IV, IL 110,

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. . : ; MAQE IOVS lel, WM.

Genus SericuLus, Swains.

A single species only of this form has yet been discovered.

262. Sericulus chrysocephalus : : : : : : Vole live Rint:
Sericulus magnirostris, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. p. 145; and in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part IV.
Young.

The brushes of the south-eastern part of Australia is the only locality in which this bird has yet been found.