i M^'] Jackson. Second Trip tu Macpherson liange. Q. 



205 



These notes were rendered slo\vl\-, and tlie " P-e-e-p " was rather 

 high pitched, while the " P-0-0-0-0 " was a low note, as shown : — 



Peep 



~^ 



J tee 



CfiJvV 



c/70 



The " P-o-0-0-0 " somewhat resembled the sound produced by 

 running a wet finger around the top of a thin champagne glass 

 and removing it quickly. The notes were difficult to locate, the 

 sound appearing to be coming from any direction in which you 

 turned an ear. While thus calling the bird often ventriloquized, 

 and the sound appeared about a quarter of a mile away instead 

 of, perhaps, 15 or 20 feet. Only that we had many times observed 

 its throat moving as the sound was produced, we would have 

 concluded that the call was made by another bird some distance 

 awa}'. The bill was closed when this cUstant sound was being 

 produced. The notes rendered most frequently by these birds 

 resembled " We-chaw-et-tec " and also " We-et-chaw-et-tee." 

 There was a longer pause on " Chaw," the lowest-pitched note of 

 the series, and the note " Tee " was the highest. The notes were 

 drawn out slowly and sadl3\ and were indeed extraordinary and 

 difficult to describe. The bird also ventriloquized with this last 

 lot of notes. Both birds seemed to have the same calls. Another 

 call often resembled " O' wheat," repeated from four to nine times 

 or more, rapidly, each one getting faster and faster and louder 

 and louder, the last few notes being very loud, while the first few 

 were exceedingly soft and low. Sometimes the note was given 

 without the " O " in front, thus sounding " Wheat," and in some 

 instances it was rendered as " Too-wheat." The birds seldom 

 called more than about 150 yards apart, and were local in their 

 habits, each pair keeping to a particular section of the jungle. 

 As a rule they kept up in the moss-clad trees about 20 to 40 feet, 

 though we have observed them as high as 80 or 90 feet. 



The first nest found was an old one, 4 feet up on a horizontal 

 branch of a yellow- wood tree {Daphnandrci micrantha). The first 

 new nest was found on 14th October, and we enjoyed watching 

 the birds with field-glasses. They called all the time while 

 collecting material and bringing it to the nest, which was placed 

 about 3 feet up in the middle of a flowering spice-bush (Helicia 

 Youn%iana) entwined and overgrown with wire-vines. This 

 carefully hidden nest was discovered through our observing the 

 female carrying a curved twig fully 10 inches long. Sitting on a 

 moss-covered log, she ran this through her bill, and we could 

 distinctly hear the cracking as she did so, no doubt to give it a 

 greater curve ; then she flew up into the bush, and the nest was 



