184 Howe, Observations on the Pilot-Bird. l,^^ ^^prii 



The calls of the birds are sweet and varied. They have at 

 least half a dozen different calls, and at nesting time the female 

 joins in the latter part of the song with a call entirely different 

 from that of the male, just as the female of Psophodes (Coach- 

 whip-Bird) does. One note, sounding like " Tui-wit " softly 

 uttered, is often heard when the nest is building, and also when 

 they are feeding. The description of a call given in " Nests and 

 Eggs" (Campbell) as " Guinea-a-week " is easily recognised, but 

 is not heard i-o frequently as other calls, and appears to be used 

 when the bird is moving rapidly through the scrub. For 

 instance, on the loth February a bird was heard to utter this 

 call in a gully about 30 yards ahead of our party. The next 

 call was less than 15 yards from us, then came two calls quite 

 close to us, then another about 20 yards past, again two calls 

 about 40 yards distant, and then another rather more than 60 

 yards in the same direction. We did not move whilst this 

 performance was going on, and there was only a pause of a few 

 seconds between the calls, the longest being that between the 

 last two calls, and the whole did not take more than a minute. 

 I do not think that any bird-note is more beautiful than that of 

 this species ; it comes with such piercing sweetness, and from the 

 volume of it one would think it was made by a much larger bird. 

 When singing the head is thrown rearwards, so much so that the 

 head appears to be resting on the back, and the little throat can 

 be seen working from a fair distance off. It rarely calls when 

 motionless, and rather likes to sing when running along a log or 

 on a fallen bough. 



The nest is generally made and finished ready for eggs in a 

 day and a half, or at most two days. This, no doubt, is due to 

 the fact that it has not far to go for material. One example was 

 seen building at 8 30 a.m., there being merely a few leaves 

 noticeable, but on visiting the spot at 4.30 p.m. the nest was 

 nearly finished. Nine days after it contained the usual clutch, 

 two. (I do not think that more than two eggs have yet been 

 observed in a nest.) Example 2, very little more advanced at 

 7 a.m., was finished same day. A week later this was visited, 

 and contained one egg, but on going again in two days we found 

 the egg broken in the nest. We laid this to the credit— or, 

 rather, discredit — of a bush-rat, as that pest was plentiful in the 

 locality. Example 3, found building, was completed in a day 

 and three-quarters, and a fourth took little over a day. 



The clutch as a rule was not completed until eight days after 

 the completion of the nest. A few of the nests were lined with 

 feathers, but most of them were finished with fine grasses. The 

 site chosen was generally in sword-grass [Lepidospenna), a {&\\ 

 were in wire-grass {EJirJiartd), two in fallen branches and debris, 

 and two were placed flat on the ground without any covering 

 whatever. 



