Vol. XVIII.] Dove, A Bush Walk. 201 



191Q J 



The first of these appears to come froiTi a considerable distance ; 

 each successive one brings the voice nearer, till it issues from the 

 spot where the performer is actually perched, perhaps only a few 

 yards away." This ventriloquial quality I have frequently 

 noticed in the call of the Bronze-Cuckoo on our coast, and it is 

 also very perceptible in individual songs of our sweet little lyrist, 

 the Striated Field-Wren {Calamanthns fnliginosus) . 



To resume our bush walk. Besides the three species of Cuckoos 

 already mentioned, there is another, the largest of the family 

 which comes to our island, and that is the well-known Pallid 

 Cuckoo [Cticidtis pallidus), with its scale of rapid crescendo notes 

 so often repeated as to be positively wearisome on a warm day. 

 This kind has a great affection for the telegraph and electric-light 

 wires which border our roads, and it is difficult to take a walk 

 from September to April without passing several members of this 

 " shrieking sisterhood " (or brotherhood) seated thus, and 

 vociferating for all they are worth. 



The Summer-Bird (Grancalus parvirostris) is another of our 

 September arrivals, and lends grace to the landscape with its 

 pretty soft-grey plumage and undulating flight. This bird has 

 two peculiarities — one is the call, which is quite unlike that of 

 any other genus with which I am acquainted, and may truly be 

 described as sui generis. The best approach I have seen to 

 description is that calling it "a soft rolling or purring note." 

 The other distinction of the Grancalus is its invariable habit, after 

 alighting on a tree or stump, of flicking up first one wing, then 

 the other, before finally folding them down upon each other. 

 This little action, the object of which is a mystery, is performed 

 with a grace which goes well with its elegant contour and colouring. 



At noon the blue sky became overcast, and a cold wind from 

 the north sprang up, bringing with it a heavy and prolonged 

 shower. For a time I stood under the trees ; then the rain 

 cleared away and the sun appeared, but the fresh northerly breeze 

 continued. While watching the splendid aerial circling of a pair 

 of Harriers {Circus gouldi) at a great height, I became conscious 

 of a couple of smaller birds below them, but still at a considerable 

 altitude ; these latter were also circling, but were gradually 

 passing away to the south, or inland. Presently others were 

 noticed going south in the same fashion, and I saw that they 

 were Wood-Swallows {Artamus sordidus), which were arriving 

 from the mainland with a fair wind. Many kept at a consider- 

 able height, others came down into the tree-tops, and presently 

 a pair alighted on a dry branch not far from me. The male, after 

 resting a little, took a skimming flight, and returned with an 

 insect in his bill, alighting near his mate, who opened her beak 

 and fluttered her wings like a fledgeling, when he popped the 

 delicacy into her mouth. The attention was evidently appreciated 

 by his travel-wearied lady. By-and-by the Harriers who had 

 been circling in "the high blue dome" came lower, and one of 

 them made a beautiful gliding flight towards the beach, in the 



