MONARCIIA. 



155 



South Wales, being found as far inland as the western slopes of the Blue Mountains; it 

 is tolerably numerous in favourable situations throughout the Illawarra District, its range 

 also extending, but in diminished numbers, into the eastern parts of Victoria where a similar 

 flora exists. 



Individual variation exists in the width of the bill and the extent of the black marking 

 on the face and throat of Monarchia melanopsis, the latter being smaller in young birds, and 

 gradually increasing in size until fully adult. In a very old male, obtained by Mr. R. Grant in 

 the Bellinger River District, the feathers above the eye and the crown of the head are black; 

 the lower portion of the black marking on the throat extends on to the sides of the neck, and the 

 grey feathers on the centre of the chest are mottled with black, which colour also extends on to 

 some of the orange-buff feathers on tlie upper portion of the breast. The upper figure of this 

 species in Gould's folio edition of the "l-iirds of Australia," is that of an immature bird. When 



fully adult, both sexes have 

 the black face and throat, 

 and are indistinguishable 

 from one another except 

 by dissection. 



During the breeding 

 season, it is usually met 

 with singly or in pairs, in 

 damp gullies or on the 

 brush-covered margins of 

 creeks and rivers, particu- 

 larly where there is a 

 luxuriant vegetation and 

 tree ferns and palms 

 abound. At Ourimbah, I 

 ha\e frequently observed 

 it bathing in a creek. 

 Near Sydney it may be 

 occasionally observed in 

 A \ ^^^V ^^F -Jltm ^^^^^1 open forest lightly 



1 M^^P ^^^ ^^^^Ir .^^^^^H timbered lands from the 



^"^^^ ■^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^* beginning of February un- 

 til the end of September. 

 It is not common, how- 

 ever, and retires from the 

 vicinity of the metropolis to breed in the more secluded mountain gullies of the county. 



The spring notes of this species are remarkablv rich and clear, and somewhat resemble 

 "why-yew witch-yew," each note being uttered slowly and distinctly and repeated several 

 times. I have never heard it call during winter. 



Its food consists entirely of insects of various kinds, which it picks off in an unobtrusive 

 manner from the stems and branches of trees. .\t Roseville I saw one of these birds capture a 

 very large moth, which it swallowed entire. 



The nests of this species vary in shape according to the position in which they are built. 

 When placed at the junction of a thin forked horizontal branch they are cup-shaped in form, 

 but when built in upright forked branches they are of an inverted cone or pear-shape with a 

 cup-like cavity at the top, the bottom tapering more or less to a point according to the thickness 

 of the fork in which it is placed. The latter type is far more common, and resembles in shape 



NEST .\ND EGGS OF BLA.CK-F.\CED FLVCATCHER. 



