^'%o^"] C.\-MrB¥.i.h, Addi/iovsto '■ If. T.. White Collection." 57 



3/1/20. — ^Hundreds of Swifts l^avvking high overhead. Later, 

 Swifts hawking low here. Try four shots without success. Still 

 later, come out into open forest again. Swifts hawking low 

 amongst the trees. Ten shots do not get a bird ; seemingly, they 

 must be flying at nearly 200 miles an hour. Hundreds of birds 

 are making the air vibrant with the humming rush of wings. 

 One minute the birds are down about the tree-tops ; the next 

 they are luindreds of feet on high, speeding elsewhere, whilst other 

 flying forms take their place. Further on I get a view of a couple 

 of miles around. Swifts are everywhere ; the air is simply alive 

 with them. 11/1/20. — Over an open grass patch hundreds of 

 Swifts are hawking low. Stop one -with my eleventh shot.] 



*Eudynamys cyanocephala, Latham. Koel. 

 li. oriental is cyanocephaliis. 



One c?- A curious specimen, showing transition stage of 

 plumage from drab to glossy black. In the tail some of the 

 feathers are black, others brown barred. 



[20/11/19. — 8 p.m., Koels heard calling as they pass over going 

 south ; II p.m., again hear Koels going south. 28/11/19. — 

 10 p.m., Koel heard caUing as it passed south. 27/3/20. — Koels 

 heard calling as they passed over, going north.'] 



*Cuculus optatus, Gould. Australian Cuckoo. 



Two o'J. two $$ (imm.) A most interesting series, especially 

 the two immature females, one of which Mr. White has commis- 

 sioned Mr. Neville Cayley to figure. The figure wih probably 

 appear in the following issue of the Emu. 



[3/12/19. — First observed ; flew from the scrub into the- forest 

 country. 29/12/19. — Near a pocket of paper-barks [Melaleuca) 

 saw two Australian Cuckoos chasing one another and uttering 

 a low, harsh, short, hissing " Churr, churr, churr, churr, churr, 

 churr, churr." Some birds are flying down into grass and up 

 again. At last one of the Cuckocs comes within range and I 

 shoot it. Have a look where the birds were feeding ; hundreds of 

 small caterpiUars in the grass. i2/i/2o.-^In open forest country 

 Australian Cuckoos numerous ; several heard caUing in the low, 

 harsh " Churr " note, several times repeated ; this note ran 

 be heard only at a few yards distant.] 

 *Cacomantis variolosus, Horsfield. Square-tailed Cuckoo. 

 C. pyrrhophanus dumetornm. 



Two (^^, I $. Similar to Northern Territory examples, and 

 smaller and lighter-coloured than specimens taken in New South 

 Wales or Victoria. Nesthngs from northern localities are also 

 lighter-coloured than those from south. These Cuckoos wore 

 numerous on Moa Island. 



[18/11/19. — A Square-tailed Cuckoo was seen perched on a 

 stump. Dusky, Graceful (Lesser Yellow-spotted), and Brown- 

 backed Honey-eaters were fluttering over and scolding it. The 

 Cuckoo, mouth agape, was uttering a low, hissing note. 27/12/19. 

 — Inside the edge of some timber a mmilx'r of Square-tailed 



