POMATOSTOMUS. 



359 



distributed inland, it is never found near the coast in the south-eastern portion of that State. 

 These birds frequent chiefly open forest-lands and pine scrubs, moving about in small flocks from 

 four to seven or more in number, and are at all times exceedingly noisy and garrulous. They 

 obtain their food principally on the ground, generally beneath wide-spreading trees, where, with 

 puffed out body feathers and slightly spread wings, they may be seen running here and there 

 over the grassy sward, disputing among themselves the possession of an insect or other dainty 

 morsel, and keeping up at the same time an incessant chattering. When disturbed they fly on 

 to the lower branches of a tree and hop from limb to limb, in a similar manner to Stndhidca 

 cincrea, which they resemble very much in their actions, until reaching the top, they leave the 

 tree, sometimes onlv in twos and threes, following in a line one after the other. In the pine 

 scrubs about \\'ellin,i;ton and Dubbo I found these birds far less wary and more easy of approach 

 than in the open forest-lands about the Namoi and (iwydir Rix'ers. 



It is impossible to convey any accurate idea by words of the notes of this species. 

 "Chatterer," by wiiich name it is commonly known in many parts of New South Wales, 

 more aptly describes them than anv other; but its \aried notes have also earned for it the name 

 elsewhere of " Dog-bird," " 1 !arking-bird," and " Cat-bird." From their sociable habits they are 

 known about western New South Wales as the -Happy Family," and in some parts share 



with Striithidca cincrea the 

 name of "Twelve Apostles," 

 the local names being fre- 

 quently transposed for both 

 species. 



The wings of adult males 

 vary in length from 4-45 to 47 

 inches, and of adult females 

 from 4-2 to 4-4 inches. 



There is a beautiful albino 

 of this species in the Aus- 

 tralian Museum, obtained by 

 Mr. C. Church near Lake 

 Albert, New South Wales, 

 in May, 1900. 



Stomachs of these birds 

 I examined from Lake Cudgellico, obtained in August, contained the remains of beetles, mixed 

 with a quantitv of fine red sand and gravel. 



The nest is a large dome-shaped structure, with a narrow spout-like entrance, which is 

 generallv difficult to discover when above one's head and attempting to insert a hand into it. 

 Others have the entrance more or less concealed with an overhanging hood. It is outwardly 

 formed of thin sticks and long twigs, slightly interwoven, and is lined generally with bark 

 fibre, grasses, cow-dung, or wool, according to the locality in which it is built. 1 he nests 

 are variable in size, an average one measuring externally fourteen inches in height by twelve 

 inches in breadth, and across the entrance two inches and a half. In open forest lands it is 

 usually bu.lt near the extremity of a forked horizontal branch, where several thin leaty twigs 

 sprout out, or in a bushy bough, generallv of a Eucalyptus. Inland, the crown, or at the junction 

 of several forked upright branches of the different species of CalUtvis and Acacia, are more otten 

 resorted to; and in the Upper Clarence District, the Native Quince (Pdalostigma quadnlocnlavc) 

 and a species of Melaleuca are selected. The nests are usually built at a height varying from ten 

 to twenty feet, and in some instances as high as forty feet. Between Gunnedah and Narrabn, 

 the nests of this species form a prominent feature in the landscape, a great number of the trees 



^(^^ 



GRKY-CROWNED CHATTERER. 



