54 •^^''"^ Feathers. [isf'juiy 



its colonial name, and ivhich is only emitted u'hile the bird is in a 

 hovering position at a few feet above the ground.' This has often 

 been quoted — e.g., by Mr. Robert Hall in his ' Useful Birds of 

 Southern Australia.' Granting that it is usual for the bird to 

 hover while giving out its peculiar whirring note, to say that it 

 does so at no other time is absolutely wrong. I have several 

 times seen the bird perched while doing so. To give one par- 

 ticular instance. Last season, while burning off, I heard one of 

 these birds strike up its whistle. I looked round, expecting to 

 see it on the wing close to me, but it was not there. Then I 

 caught sight of it some 20 yards away, seated on a piece of burnt 

 poison bush. After some time it flew to a dead mallee sucker 

 and continually let forth its whirr. The bird was about me for 

 fully half an hour, and whistled as much while perched as when 

 hovering. He was the only one present, and, as the nearest 

 timber was 200 yards away, it could not have been from another 

 bird. Further, I could see his throat moving. Afterwards I 

 observed other birds give off their whirring note while perched, 

 although none of them in so marked a manner as this one. The 

 Flycatcher apparently does not nest just in this immediate 

 neighbourhood, but every year, before the breeding season, 

 numbers of them arrive and stay for some time. Dumbleyung, 

 near Wagin, W.A., 25th March, 1915. 



" I have been fortunate enough to make two further observa- 

 tions of the Restless Flycatcher, and I think they will prove that 

 my previous statements were correct. The following is my rough 

 note of the first instance : — ' i8th April, 1915, 8 a.m. — Restless 

 Flycatcher came across from water-hole, hovering over bushes 

 on way, but silent. Flew behind stable and whirred while hovering, 

 then perched on lower wire of small paddock fence (two-wire fence, 

 lower wire 2 feet 6 inches from ground), and whirred for about 

 25 seconds ; flew chain further along and perched on top wire 

 (3 feet 6 inches from ground) and whirred for 30 seconds, then 

 flew to road. No time to follow him. Times of whirring note 

 approximate. These were the distinct whirring notes, and not 

 the preliminary whistle.' The second observation I made this 

 morning on the Dongolocking Road. I heard one of these birds, 

 and pulled up my horse. It crossed the road and perched on a 

 dead mallee about 5 feet high, and whirred for 15 seconds. 

 Flying a couple of chains, it rested on a small bush, and whirred 

 for 12 seconds ; then, proceeding to a mallee some 10 feet from 

 the ground it whirred for 28 seconds, and then, going to a lower 

 bush, it whistled for 20 seconds. I took these four times by a 

 second hand of my watch, but, as I had to keep one eye on the 

 bird and the other on my horse (as I was driving a sulky and 

 this sand-plain is plentifully interspersed with mallee and black- 

 boy), I could not take further times, but followed the bird for 

 10 minutes, and during that time it repeatedly whistled while 

 perched, but only did so twice while in the hovering position. In 

 case it might be urged that this was a solitary bird, and perhaps 



