PSOPIIODES. 



337 



whistle, terminatin'4 in ;i loud, clear, and vigorous " wh p," the female answering immediately 



with a "chuk chuk," which would lead one to imagine that tiie response was part of her 

 consort's note. Occasionally it is varied with a low squeaking or whining note, common to 

 both sexes. In autumn the male usually utters only the beginning of his call, and does 

 not conclude with the whip-like sound. It is seldom heard, also, when they venture out of 

 cover; but on one occasion, in Goodlet's Bush, between Ashfield and Canterbury, I watched 

 for half-an-hour a tine old male fearlessly and diligently searching the branches of some 

 tail Eucalypti in quest of food; his mate, w^ho was engaged in the same occupation in the 

 bushes in the avenue, about thirty yards away, always responding to his call. This is 

 the only instance in which I have known this species to resort to tall timber that afforded 

 no concealment. 



Although stated to be of uncertain size, Latham's prior description of White-cheeked 

 Crow,'' and his subsequent diagnosis of it, given in his "Index Ornithologicus" under the 

 name of Corvus oUvaceiis. tar more accurately describes the present species than does his later 

 one of Coach-whip Flycatcher, characterised as Miisciiapn crepitans. The latter description is 



recognisable chiefly by the vernacular 

 name and an account of the bird's 

 habits. 



In describing PsopJiodcs crepitans in the 

 " Catalogue of Birds in the British 

 Museum, "+ Dr. Sharpe enumerates five 

 J!, specimens as having been collected at 

 Cape York, one by Messrs. Cockerell 

 and Thorpe, and four by ]Mr. Cockerell. 

 Evidently Dr. Sharpe has overlooked the 

 locality of these specimens, or he has 

 regarded them as being wrongly localised, 

 for he gives the habitat as " Victoria and 

 New South Wales, extending along the 

 east coast as high as Rockingham Bay." 

 Mr. J. A. Thorpe, who prepared all the 

 skins procured at Cape York by the 

 late Mr. Cockerell and himself, informs 

 me that Psophodes crepitans was never 

 obtained or e\en seen by them during their stay there. Neither has Mr. Bertie L. Jardine, 

 who has resided there all his life, ever met with this species, nor Ephthianura albifrons and 

 E. tricolor, also recorded in the same Catalogue as being obtained by Mr. Cockerell at 

 Cape York. 



The nest is an open structure, irregularly formed externally of long thin twigs or spiny stems 

 and fibrous rootlets, the inner portion being cup-shaped and neatly lined with fine rootlets or the 

 long thread-like leaves of the Casnarina, and sometimes with horse-hair, the rim of the nest being 

 almost flat and of irregular width. An average nest measures externally six inches in diameter 

 by two inches and a half in depth. The site selected for the nest is varied, but it is generally 

 built two or three feet off the ground in a low shrub, the common Blackthorn (Bursaria spinosa) 

 being particularly favoured in this respect in the neighbourhood of Sydney. Although usually 

 well concealed, I have also found it in open parts of scrubs, near well frequented paths. 



WniP-llIRD. 



* Lath., Gen. Syn. Bds., Suppl. II., p. ii8 (1801) 

 t Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. vii., p. 351 (1883). 



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