AXTHOCH.ERA. 



161 



J3 



the under surface greyisli-brown, each feather having a central streak of ichile, those ontlie lower throat 

 fore neck, and chest being narrow and more clearly defined and the sides of the feathers dark brown: 

 centre oflojoer breast and abdomen yelloiv; under tail-coverts dark greyish-brown ivith white margins 

 and shaft streaks and broad white tips; bill black; legs and feet fleshy-brown ; iris brownish-red. 

 Total length in the flesh H'o incites, wing 6'5, tail 7, bill OSo, tarsus IS. 



Adult female — .S'imtVrt?- in pi mnagp to the male, hut I ess in siw, nud liarin.g mm-h xiiKilIrr iratftes. 

 Wing 6 inehp.-:. 



Distribution — Southern Queensland, New South Wales, \'ictoria, South Australia, Kangaroo 

 Island, Western Australia. 



XDER the names of "Gill-bird" and 

 '■ \\'attle-bird,"" the present species is 

 well known to most residents of the parts of the 

 Australian continent, in which it is found. Its 

 rancre extends from the southern portion of 

 Queensland, throughout the coastal districts 

 and contiguous mountain ranges of New South 

 \\'ales, into Victoria, South Australia, and West 

 Australia. A specimen from King George's 

 Sound in the Australian Museum collection, 

 procured by Mr. George Masters in January, 

 i866, is smaller than examples obtained near 

 Sydney. Mr. J. A. Thorpe informs me that he 

 obtained this species at Ennogera in Southern 

 Queensland, but it was by no means common. 



The note of this species is a succession of 

 guttural sounds difficult to syllabicate. During 

 flight from one tree to another a short "kwock, 

 kwock, kwock " is frequently uttered. 



In the coastal districts of New South Wales 

 it usually makes it appearance in large flocks in 

 April and May, retiring again inland at the end 

 of winter to breed and remaining there throughout the summer. In some seasons it is scarce, but 

 it was unusually plentiful in 1905 in the neighbourhood of Sydney, principally between Manly 

 and Narrabeen and at Port Hacking. "Gill-bird" shooting is much indulged in, both for pleasure 

 and profit, and these birds afford capital sport for they frequently take flight as one is approaching 

 the tree they are in, or keep to the higher branches of the tall Eucalypti. Numbers of them may 

 be seen exposed for sale in the poulterers' shops in Sydney during the late autumn months, for 

 they are much esteemed as an article of food. 



In the '-Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum," Dr. H. Gadow writes \'igors and 

 Horsfield's generic name as " Acanthochara," but as shown on reference to the original description 

 in the "Transactions of the Linnean Society,"* where the derivation is given, the name was 

 written ''Anthochara," the members of this genus delighting in flowers. Dr. Gadow follows 

 Gould in placing Corvus paradoxus and the Wattled Crow of Latham as synonyms of the 

 present species. In his key to the species, Dr. Gadow rexn3.r\is oi A nthochiera carnnculata: — 

 "Length of wattles less than 0-5 inch," which is irreconcileable with Latham's description 

 of the Wattled Crow — "caruncle ten lines in length." 



The normal food of this species consists of nectar extracted principally from the blossom of 

 different species of Eucalypti and Banksias, also various kinds of insects. Cultivated fruits, 

 * Trans. Linn. Soc, Vol. X\'., p. 320, (1826). 



WATTLED HOSEV-EATER. 



