birding-aus

Request for information

To: Jim Davis <>
Subject: Request for information
From: "Syd Curtis" <>
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2000 17:30:28 +1000
Jim,

    This might not be exactly what you want but perhaps it's worth 
mentioning.  Small bats sometimes roost in old nests of Yellow-throated
Scrub-wrens.

If you look in the Reader's Digest bird book you'll find as other names for
the Scrub-wren, "blacknest-bird" and "devil-bird".

Both names were, I believe, bestowed by my mother (Hilda Geissmann in the
Qld Museum book on lady collectors/naturalissts).  Her family moved to
Tamborine Mountain (70km s. of Brisbane) in 1898 when she was an 8 year-old
child.  The mountain was then a largely untouched superbly rich
(biologically) area.  She loved birds and learnt from nature - no field
guides then.  She had to give the birds names of her own devising.

Blacknest-bird is an obvious one because the nests are (were) common,
conspicuous and durable ... and black, being constructed (at least on
Tamborine) entirely of the hyphae of the horse-hair fungus (Marasmius
equicrinus).

Why devil-bird?  Almost certainly because of the occasions when as a child
she checked a nest and a bat flew out (like a bat out of hell?).  The other
possibility was because another occasional inhabitant was a very large spiky
cricket.  Mother told me that a bat didn't worry her but to gently insert a
finger to check for eggs or babes and encounter one of these crickets gave
her feelings of the utmost revulsion and horror.

If the bat association is of use to you, bats involved are Chalinobus mario
and species of Eptesicus, but you should contact a bat expert (which I am
not) for confirmation.  I got my information on their identity from Les Hall
(Dept of Anatomy?) University of Qld.

Cheers

Syd

----------
>From: "Jim Davis" <>
>To: "Birding -Aus" <>
>Subject: [BIRDING-AUS] Request for information
>Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2000 4:42 AM
>

> Birding - Aus members:
>
> I would once again like to tap the experience of Birding-Aus subscribers.
> Currently, I am writing an article on nesting associations between different
> species of birds and between birds and other animals.   I am aware of the
> following associations:
>

To unsubscribe from this list, please send a message to

Include ONLY "unsubscribe birding-aus"
in the message body (without the quotes)

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU