40 PACHYCEPIIALIN*. 



^N favourable situations the Crested Bell-bird is distributed over the greater portion of 

 Jl Australia. In New South Wales it gives decided preference for inland open forests and 

 belts of timber growing on the plains, and does not occur near the coast. Its food consisting 

 of various kinds of insects and their larvae, is obtained either on the ground, over which it 

 proceeds in a similar manner as CoUyriocinda harmonica, or among the larger branches of trees. 



The powers of ventriloquism of this bird are truly wonderful. Its singularly low, mournful 

 and plaintive note, now rising, now falling, appears to be a long way off, and it is not until it 

 has reached its fullest and highest bell-like tones, that one may discover the bird perched 

 motionless on a branch only a few yards away. I first heard the note of this bird at Yendon in 

 Victoria, when otherwise only the hum of insects broke the stillness of a sultry afternoon in 

 November. It appeared to be some sixty yards in front of me, arriving at the spot, it seemed to 

 be the same distance at the back of me. Eventually the bird was discovered sitting motionless 

 on a lateral dead branch of a gum tree, close to where I first heard it calling. 



Mr. G. A. Keartland writes me as follows : — ''Oreoica cristata is a solitary bird, and excepting 

 breeding time, even avoids the company of its mate. Although I frequently saw these birds 

 throughout the rambles of the Horn Scientific Expedition in Central Australia, from Macumba 

 Creek in the south to Alice Springs in the north, and as far as Glen Edith westward, I only once 

 observed a pair in company. It was soon after sunrise, and they were hopping over the ground 

 in a very pert lively manner in quest of insects. With crests erect they occasionally gave forth 

 their monotonous note as they moved from place to place quite regardless of my presence. 

 That they are indifferent to the proximity of water is evidenced by the fact that during the trip 

 of the Calvert Exploring Expedition across the Great Desert of the north-west, we frequently 

 passed a dozen nests in a day. They were open cup-shaped, built of small twigs or grass stems 

 and placed in the fork of a sapling, usually about four feet from the ground. The Onoica is a 

 wonderful ventriloquist. On one hot day (i6th October, i8g6) a male bird alighted amongst the 

 foliage of a tree within eighteen feet of where we were lying under our tarpaulins and kept us 

 all amazed by the manner in which he threw his notes in various directions. Sometimes a low 

 soft note came from the east and the next moment a loud one was heard from the north, from a 

 spot where there was nothing but bare sand. At other times the sound was heard close to our 

 faces. He thus occupied himself for over an hour, when he was accidently disturbed. Although 

 I have occasionally seen or heard it as far south as Melton in \'ictoria. it is much more at home 

 in the arid portions of Central and Western Australia." 



It is particularly plentiful in the neighbourhood of Wellington and Dubbo, and Mr. E. H. 

 Lane has found a large number of its nests during the many years he has occupied Wambangalang 

 Station, distant about twenty miles from the latter town. The late Mr. K. H. Bennett, writing 

 in 1889, remarks: — "When Yandembah Station was first occupied in 1S64, Oreoica cristata was 

 plentifully dispersed throughout the clumps of timber and scrubby sand-hills scattered over the 

 plain, but for the past eight or nine years it has entirely disappeared. It might be thought that 

 the occupation of the country would account for its absence, but if so, it is hard to reconcile this 

 cause with its constant presence in the well stocked and timbered back country some fifty miles 

 away, where it always has been, and is still. numerous." 



W^ritingfrom Broken Hill, in south-western New South Wales, Dr.W. Macgillivray remarks: — 

 " I have not noted this bird myself, as the country is unsuitable to its habits within easy reach 

 of Broken Hill. Mr. Gayer found numbers of them on his trip. He states that the birds were 

 numerous, and their nests quite common. The nest was usually placed in the fork of a mulga 

 or on a horizontal branch from three to ten feet from the ground. It was very perfectly made of 

 strips of bark lined with fine rootlets. One contained, or was rather decorated with a lot of 

 dead caterpillars." 



From South Australia Dr. A. M. Morgan sends me the following note : — " During a trip 

 taken by Dr. Chenery and myself to the Mount Gunson District, from Port .-Vugusta, in August 



