40 SOME USEFUL AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



The Coach-whip Bird {Psophodes crepitans Latham). 

 Goul.l's Handbook, vol. 1» p. 312, No 182 ; Leach's Bird Book, p. 129, No. 272. 



This is one oi the birds that live in the shelter of the tangled brush of our 

 coastal scrub ranging all along the eastern coast from Victoria, through New 

 South Wales into Queensland. In such localities the Coach- whip Bird is at 

 home ; but it seldom comes out in the open or far from protection. 



This bird takes its popular name from its remarkable notes. Forcing one's 

 way through tangled grass and brush, and among dead logs and fallen trees, 

 one is arrested by a series of low clear notes, followed by a loud sharp one, 

 exactly like the crack of a whip. It is the call of the male bird to his mate, 

 she answering with a more gentle note the moment he stops. If one wishes 

 to observe the birds, he must remain quietly in any open glade in the forest, 

 and before Jona: he will see one or two medium-sized, blackish, or dark olive- 

 green birds, with a distinct white patch on either side of the neck, feathers 

 on the top of the head raised into a slight crest and a very noticeable long 

 and rather broad tail. They hop about over the scrub, jumping up on to 

 logs or fallen trees, and scratching up the soil in search of insects, snails, and 

 other small game, and will come quite close to the intruder into their domain, 

 watching him alertly with bright bead-like eyes, and ready to fly if he should 

 be dangei'ous. 



The Coach-whip Bird builds a loosely-constructed nest of fresh twigs ; a 

 favourite situation in the Sydney scrub is a Bursaria bush, while in the 

 Queensland forest she favours a clump of lawyer palm. The eggs, two in 

 number, are oval in shape and glossy ; their colour is greenish- white, blotched 

 and marked with dark-brown and light-grey lines in fantastic patterns. In 

 captivity the Coach-whip Bird will eat meat, and I was told by a dealer that 

 he had one that killed a mouse which entered its cage. 



The Brush -turliey or Wattled Talegallus [Talegalhis [Catheturus) lathami 



Gould \ 

 Gould's Handbook, vol. II, p. 150, No. 476. 



This species of megapode is not unlike a small turkey, with its bare head, 

 yellow and blue wattles, stiff wing and tail feathers, and stout legs. When, 

 however, the first specimens were sent to Europe, it was described by Latham 

 as the New Holland Vulture, under the impression that it was allied to 

 the Turkey-buzzard or Carrion-vulture of America and the West Indies. It 

 occupies the semi-tropical forests along the eastern coastal mountains, and in 

 the early days of settlement was an inhabitant of the Illawarra brushes ; and 

 though still found in our northern scrubs, is more common in Queensland, 

 right up into Cape York and round to the north coast. 



In this case the male Scrub-turkey does all the building of the mound neat, 

 •which is chiefly composed of earth mould and dead leaves scraped up into a 

 conical mound, about 21 to 4 feet in height, and 12 feet in diameter at the 

 base. When the male bird has finished the building up of the fresh mound, 



