50 SOME USEFUL AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



head is caUed the White-throated Thickhead, while Leach lists it as the 

 Golden-breasted Whistler. Among the earlier writers, Lewin named it 

 twice— the Orange-breasted Thrush and the Black-crowned Thrush. Latham 

 dubbed it the Black-breasted Flycatcher and Shaw, in doubt, named it 

 Motacilla duhia. 



This is a forest-loving bird, li\dng both in the open gum and wattle scrub, 

 and in the more dense coastal thickets and cedar brushes. It hunts for 

 insects among the branches and foliage and also upon the ground. All the 

 thickheads have much the same habits and are rather shy birds. They are 

 best observed by resting in the brush they frequent, and by keeping perfectly 

 quiet. Their call-notes are seven or eight low whistles ending in a sharp 

 crack, not unlike that of the true Coach-whip Bird, but easily distinguished 

 by one who has listened to the louder, shriller note of the latter. 



The nest is a shallow, loosely-made, saucer-like structure, composed of dry 

 grass and rootlets, lined inside with feathers, and placed in the fork of a tree 

 a few feet from the ground. It contains three creamy-white to buff-coloured 

 eggs, which are ornamented with a band of bi'own and lilac spots round the 

 broadest end. 



Crested Shrike-tit {Falcuncuhis frontatus Latham). 



(iould s Handbook, vol. I, p, 228, No. 129 ; Leach's Bird Book, p. 150, No. 320. 



The genus to which this bird belongs contains two species peculiar to 

 Australia. This species ranges from Queensland through New South Wales 

 and Victoria into South Australia ; the second, the White-bellied Shrike-tit 

 (Falcuncuhis leucogaster) is confined to Western Australia. It is rather 

 remarkable that our species is not found in an island like Tasmania where 

 the great gum-tree forests in which it delights are so previlent. 



This bird has gone under quite a number of popular names ; Campbell 

 calls it simply Shrike-tit ; Leach among others the Yellow-bellied or Yellow- 

 breasted Shrike-tit, Falcon-shrike, and Frontal-shrike. Gould says : "They 

 resemble the European tits and the Indian parras, and are also allied to the 

 Australian thickheads." The Crested Shrike-tit is found in the tangled 

 coastal brushes and the more open gum-tree forests. At a camp below 

 Hay, there were several that lived in the red gums along the river ; they 

 used to visit the tents to unravel and carry off the strands of the frayed 

 tent ropes, probably to line their nests Mdth. Clinging head downward 

 while picking away at the rope end, they showed off the rich colours of 

 their plumage, and would let one approach within a few yards. In a big 

 gum-tree they are very active birds, hunting over the stems and branches, 

 tearing off with their powerful beaks the loose dead bark, and feeding upon 

 the exposed insects — chiefly small beetles, larvae, and ants. When attacked 

 or wounded by other birds they are good fighters, and with their powerful 

 bills can inflict a serious wound upon bird or man. The male and female 

 differ both in size and coloration. The female is the smaller ; the black on 

 the throat of the male is in her case replaced by green, and her eyes and feet 

 are darker. 



