30 



PACHYCEPHALIN^. 



orchards and vineyards in search of insects. Most of its food is obtained among the branches 

 of the larger Eucalypti and Casuarine, hopping along the limbs in a (luiet and unobtrusive manner, 

 and searching among the crevices of the bark for insects in a similar manner to the Grey Shrike- 

 Thrush ( Collyriocincla haiinonica). 



During the spring and summer months it is one of the first birds to usher in the morn with 

 its lusty, bubbling melodious notes, followed by a clear whistle which is poured forth at intervals 

 throughout the day. Often its song is uttered while perched on a moderately thick horizontal 

 bough, one that viewed from below, little more than the bill and portion of the tail is visible. 

 Like the preceding species, the rich and voluble notes are also poured forth almost simultaneously 

 with any loud and sudden noise, as the discharge of a gun, or a peal of thunder, and shares with 

 Fachycephala guttuvalis, the name of "Thunder Bird," In the neighbourhood of Sydney, it is also 

 locally known as the "Little Thrush" and "Ring Coachman." 



The nest is an open cup-shaped structure, and usually somewhat scantily formed of long 

 thin twigs and dried grasses, and lined inside with liner dried grasses or wiry rootlets. An 

 average one measures three inches and a half in external diameter by two inches and a half in 

 depth, and the inner cup two inches and a quarter in diameter by one inch and a half in depth. 

 Some nests built in upright acute-angled forks are much thicker at the bottom ; but when not too 

 high, the eggs are often visible through the sides of the nest. One I found at Canterbury, near 

 Sydney, built about five feet from the ground in a gum sapling, and from which I flushed a 

 bird, had the thin wiry rootlets and thread-like Casuarina leaves of which it was composed, so 

 thickly matted together with pure white cobwebs, that I mistook it for a Honey-eater's nest, and 

 it was not until one of the three eggs it contained had been withdrawn, that I was certain of 

 its identity. The site is usually in an upright forked branch of any suitable tree ; generally a 

 Casuarina, Melaleuca, Syncarpia, or Acacia is selected in the neighbourhood of Sydney, and its 

 height varies as a rule from within hand's reach to fifteen feet, and occasionally as high as thirty 

 feet from the ground. Mr. W. B. Barnard informs me that in Queensland he has found the nest 

 of this species built among the sticks underneath the nest of the Whistling Eagle, Haliastur 

 sphcnurus. 



Three is the usual number of eggs laid for a sitting, occasionally I found nests containing 

 only two, and on three occasions sets of four. They are oval in form, the shell being close- 

 grained, smooth, and lustrous. In ground colour they vary from a very pale olive to olive-brown 

 which is freckled, spotted, or blotched with umber, sepia, and blackish-brown, intermingled with 

 fainter subsurface markings of a similar character. In some specimens the markings are chiefly 

 confined to a well defined zone around the larger end, but in others they are very small and 

 sparingly sprinkled over the shell and barely distinguishable from the ground colour. In the 

 size and disposition of their markings they vary as much as do those on the eggs of PachyccpJiala 

 gntturalis. Typical eggs, however, may be easily distinguished from those of any other Australian 

 species, e.xcept from those of their close ally P. falcata. A set of three taken at Canterbury, 

 New South Wales, on the ist October, 1899, measures as follows : — Length (A) 0-87 x o-65 

 inches; (B) 0-85 x 0-65 inches; (C) 0-87 x 0-67 inches. A set of three taken at Chatswood, 

 on the 3rd October, 1898, measure:— Length (A) 0-92 x o-65 inches; (B) 0-9 x 0-65 inches; 

 (C) 0-91 X 0-68 inches. 



September and the four following months constitute the usual breeding season. In the 

 neighbourhood of Sydney this species is a later breeder than P. gntturalis, and nests with fresh 

 eggs are not uncommon until the middle of December, and may be found as late as the end of 

 that month. They are, however, far more plentiful in October. At Chatswood I saw fledgelings 

 on the 25th January, 1899, and young birds being fed by their parents on the 6th February. 



At Enfield on the 22nd December, 1897, I found a nest built four feet from the ground in a 

 Melaleuca, containing three nearly fledged young, which scrambled out of the nest as I put my 



