INSESSORES. 233 



tree, perhaps not more than a few yards distant ; its motion- 

 less attitude renderhig its discovery very difficult. It has 

 two kinds of song, the most usual of which is a running suc- 

 cession of notes, or two notes repeated together rather slowly, 

 followed by a repetition three times rather quickly, the last 

 note resembling the sound of a bell from its ringing tone ; 

 the other song is pretty nearly the same, only that it concludes 

 with a sudden and peculiar fall of two notes." 



In Western Australia its nest is formed of strings of bark 

 lined with a few fine dried grasses, and is generally placed in a 

 Xanthorrhoea or grass-tree, either in the upper part of the 

 grass or rush above, or in the fork of the trunk, and is of a 

 deep, cup-shaped form. It breeds in October, and generally 

 lays three eggs, which vary much in colour ; the ground-tint 

 being bluish white, in some instances marked all over with 

 minute spots of ink-black, in others with long zigzag lines 

 and blotches of the same hue. In some these markings are 

 confined to the larger end, where they form a zone ; in others 

 they are equally spread all over the surface, intermingled 

 with the black markings ; also blotches of grey appear as if 

 beneath the surface of the shell, and some eggs have been 

 found with the ground-colom* of the larger end of a beautiful 

 bluish green. 



In its nidification and in many of its actions it off'ers 

 considerable resemblance to the members of the genus 

 Colhmcincla. 



It has a thick muscular gizzard, and its food consists of 

 seeds, grain, coleoptera, and the larvae of all kinds of insects. 

 In Western Australia it often resorts to newly ploughed land, 

 as it there finds an abundance of grubs and caterpillars, its 

 most favourite food. 



The male has the face white ; feathers on the fore part of 

 the head, along the centre of the crest, line from the eye 

 bounding the white of the face, and a large gorget-shaped 

 mark on the breast deep black ; sides of the head and crest 



