f
r , , „ „ 11,e .n-ouMil, mul llie 1.1,-.1 s„t fi„ictly, „otwlll,sta„<ll„g wc we,-c c,in,pL.(l „boi,t hve feet away 1,-om the t,-ec.
TI,o,-c was a sl„sle e - , the l„e„l,atlo„ of which hu.l p,-oiK,hly h.ste.l fo,- abo„t seve,, clays.' HK','« ,S a
,li(re,-e„ee hetwec, tl,e „est a,„l eggs take,, hy M,-. F,-e„ch's collecto,- a„<l the last fou„cl hy M,-. L e Souet.
all that, arte,- c,-ltieal exa,nl„atio„. I a,« „ot |„-ei,a,-ecl to say that they are „ot of the sa„,e spee.es, only
,„„le,- .liire,-e„t e o „ . lmo „ s - o „ e tahe,, l„la„.l i„ a .lease se,-„h, the otl,e,- loaad hy the sea.sho,-e o„ a„
i s l „ „ l The „ests a,-e .sl,nila,-lv eo„st,-„ete.l, w!,ile the ge„e,-al eolou,- of the eggs is alike, w, t h the exeept,o„
, h a t o„e Is spotte.1. the otl,e,- st,-eake<l. Moweve,-, the „est a„<l egg „ow exhibited hy M,-. L e Souef ,„ay he
(Icsei-lheil as fol lows:— , , , ,• , • , t i
" A'oY-So,„ewhat loosely eo„st.-„eted of h,-oa,I dead leaves a„d g,-ee„ hn„,ehlets ol cl„nh,„g j.laats a„d
,il„.o„s „,ate,-lal. laslde ,„ay he seen two la,-ge eoneave-shaped dead leaves u„de,-„eatl, p.eee.s of d,-y
te„d,-lls whicl, fo,-,„ a sp,-l„gy lining for the egg or yonng to ,-est npon. Meas,.,-e,nent >„ cent,n,etres-„ver
all II) hi-oad hy i) deep ; cgg-cavlty, 9 aci-oss the month hy 4 deep.
- £ „ • » • - 1 , , shape „ea,-ly oval, hnt a little stonter ahont the npper qnarter. Shell so,ncwhat Insfons.
C - o n n ^ e o l o u r of the egg of a (leshy tint, st,-eaked in varions lengths an.l l„-eadths, long,tnd,„ally, w,th
, e d d l s h h,-own an,l pnrplish h,-own. The ,narki„gs eon,n,e„ee near the apex, wh,eh ,s ha,-e, and extend ahnnt
h a l f w a y down the shell, and assn.ne the appea,-a„ee of having heen painted on (boldly at the top an,l
t a p e , - i n - downwards) with a ean,el-balr or sneh-llke brush. Many of the ma,-k„,gs a,-e co„ll,ie„t, the longest
s i n g l e one being 1-23 cMn., hy a b,-eadth of -aii e,n. There are also a few s,nall S|,ots „ear the lower
, p , a r t e r , and one la,-ge bloteh of ,-eddish h,-own which has a smudged appea,-anee. Length of the egg
; i - 14 cm. ; b,-cadth 2 ;i2 c,n. " , „ , i . ,
M r Ca„,pbell vei-y kindly forwar.le.l n,e a photograph of the egg taken hy Mr. French ; hnt as there
s e e n . s to be some slight donht as to the identification of this speeiinen, I give the aceomi>a„v„,g ,-ei.resentat,on
of the nest and egg of the Victoria Uille-hird taken hy Mr. Le Souef, who has kindly forwarded ,ne a
p h o t o g r a p h of them.
to the other ; wc soo,i saw the bird with ii piece of her month, wliicl, she kept (hopping and
H e has given the following account of the taking of the „est, in the ' Vieto,-lan Natu,-al,sr tor
F e b r u a r y 1892 :—" ^Ve left again dui'ing the aftei-noon and scambled over the island, still seai'chnig for the
n e s t of the Hille-bird. A fair number of the birds showed themselves, hut it was a difficult thing to discover
any nests in such thick vegetation, and we thought our task a hopeless one. Once we came a c o s s a la,-ge
nest built of leaves, and, thinking it ,night he the one we wanted, one of us sat down a short d,stance away
a n d watched it quietly to see whether any bi,-ds came to it. A male llille-hi,-d soon put m an appeai-ance
and uttered its grat ing kind of note. It clung to a vine and went through all sorts of antics, one favo„r,te
p o s i t i o n heins to st,-etch its expanded wiugs above its l,ead until tl,e tips tonel.ed, and then hiding ,ts head
b e h i n d thcm\n, d bending its body fi'om one side to the other. After going on for about a quarter ot an
h o u r it ilcw away. Shortly after returning to the camp, we again bea,-d the fcnal e liille-hird near us, so we
d e t e r m i n e d to watch her movements. M,'. Barna,-d went to one side of the small patch of scrub aud I went
c a t c h i n g again hefoi-e it i-eached (be gi-ound ; b„t after we had ,-en,ahie<l (p,iet for some tinie she darlerl
i n t o tlie scrub near to Mr . Uarua,'d, and a few ,nii,„tes afte,-wai-ds he can,e i-onnd to whei-e 1 was stationed
a n d asked me to look h, the c own of the pandanus pain, ,n,der whieb wc had our nieals a,id kept oi,r
l u g g a g e . On going carefully round I saw the head of the bird as she sat (u, her ,,est, hi,t the ,iest itself was
s o well hidden that it could not he seen ; yet it was only nine feet tVou, the g,'o„nil. Tlie tree was about
six feet fi-oin our humpy, so evei-y tin,e we had ,-clnr„ed to our n,eals wc ,u„st have Irightencd her olf ihe
nest into the scrnh, which accounts for onr having beard a,,d see,, her so often ; hut she sat very close the
second day, and was evidct l y getting used to ns. did not disturb her ibat ,tight, aud presumed she
would have three eggs, and discussed what would be done with the odd o,,e; hnt ,,ext evc ing, whe,, we
took the nest, we fonnd thc-e was only one egg in if, anil on hlowiug it fnuiid that it bad been sat npo,i
for about a week, aud that wheu the hi,-d was car,-yi„g about the material in her beak, and making us think
she was only buildiug, it n,ust have been with the Intention of misleading ns."
Adult mule. Above velvety black, a|ipea,-ing ,-ich purple against the light; wing-coverts coloured like the
back ; qnills black, externally glossed with dec|i purple, the seco„da,-ies entii-ely of this colour ; tail ,'ich
velvety |)„rple, the two centi'e f e a thc s metallic steel-g,-een ; bead „,etair,c steel-g,-eeu with a cop|iery gloss,
i u e l i n i n g to steel-blue on the nape; sides of face, sides of neck, aud th,-oat velvety purple, with a sli-oug gloss
of tie,-y copper on the chin and sides of the lh,-oat; a ti-iangular shield of „,etaHie g,-ee„ slightly shaded
with purple extending iron, the npper part of the th,-oat and occnpying all the fore neck ; entire fo,-e neck
and chest i-ieh velvety purple, the lower plumes tijipcd with oily g,-ec„ ; ,'est of under sni-face of hoily o,ly
gi-een, all the featbei's with concealed velvety black bases ; nnder wing-coverts purple, the lower surface ol
t h e wiugs and tail blue-black ; bill aud legs black. Total length 10 inches, culmen l'.), wing rr'.i, tail ;!•.•!,
tai'sus 1'4.
Adult female. Gcncal colour above ashy b,-ow„, the head ,ather mo,-e dnsky, all the fcatl,e,-s nar,-owly
s t r e a k e d with fulvous, as also the sides of the neck ; lores and ea,--coverts also b,-ow„, narrowly st,-eakcd
with wbitisl,; fi-o,n above the foi-e part of the eye a broad fulvous liue of featbcs running above the ca,--
c o v e r t s aud forming a distinct eyebrow ; checks and chin bnlfy wl,ite, the throat and nndc-parts of the boily
fawu-colon,-, spotted on the breast and har,-c(l on the Hanks with dark h,-ow„ ; nnder wing- aud tail-coverts
u n i f o r , n fawn-colour; wing-eovcrls above ashy b,-ow„ like the haek, the o„tcr„,ost of the greater series and
t h e ])ri,ua,-y-eoverts externally washed with o,-ai,ge-chestunt; quills b,-ovvn, externally washed with ohve,
i n c l i n i n g to OTange-chestuiit towa,-ds the ends of the quills; tail olive-lu-own. Total length 9 inches,
c u h n e n 1-5, wing 4-9, tail 3 2, ta,-sus 1-4.
T h e figui-es a,-e d,-awn f,-o„, the typical specimens in the British Museum, and the descriiitions are taken
f r om the same birds.