184 Cole, Notes iif^on the Ground Cuckoo-SJmkc. [,sf"jaM. 



Notes upon the Ground CuckoO'Shrike (Pteropodocys 

 phasianella). 



By C. F. Cole, R.A.O.U., Waxgaratta. 



Being conversant with this bird only as a cabinet specimen, it 

 was my good fortune to come across it in the flesh about sundown 

 on 5th June, 1914, at Londrigan. some 6 miles from Wangaratta, 

 in the north-east of Victoria. Whilst harnessing a pony to the 

 gig, my attention was attracted by hearing a strange muffled 

 sound like Woof, woof, which seemed to arise from the ground 

 close to the butt of a eucalypt sapling some 45 feet high standing 

 close to the gig. 1 listened intently and searched the ground, to 

 find the cause of this now oft-repeated muffled Woof, woof, 

 unfamiliar to me in the bush, but failed to find anything about 

 or above ground close to the sapling butt to account for these 

 strange sounds. Standing close to the bole of the sapling, I began 

 to search the leafy boughs above in the hope of elucidating the 

 mystery. My suspicion being aroused that the sounds might be 

 ventriloquial in nature, and dayhght fast disappearing, my son 

 and self made a close scrutiny of the tree-top, with the result that 

 we saw, perched right at the top of the sapling, upon a small 

 horizontal bough, three greyish-coloured birds, touching one 

 another and facing all one way, a habit characteristic of birds of 

 the Artamiis and Sittella genera. When I threw up a stick they 

 took flight, and uttered sharp and rather sweet notes whilst upon 

 the wing. The first portion of their flight was somewhat quick 

 and rollicking, broken every now and again with a little volplaning. 

 While volplaning the wings were kept in a downward position, 

 somewhat like the letter V reversed, only extended thus — /\. This 

 part of their flight resembled that of the Ground-Parrot {Pezoporiis 

 terrestris) or Stubble-Quail [Coturnix pectoralis) when about to 

 aUght. The volplaning, besides giving a peculiar effect to their 

 flight, was most interesting to watch. On throwing another 

 stick, similar notes and flights were repeated. The birds returned 

 and took up their previous attitude upon the same branch in the 

 same spot. A third time they were put to flight, with the same 

 result. Finding that the birds intended camping for the night 

 upon this particular branch, I returned at midnight, and, having 

 a suitable moon for " mooning them," secured two of the birds 

 for scientific purposes. Upon handling them I found that they 

 were the Ground Cuckoo-Shrike {Pteropodocys phasianella), male 

 and female — rare visitors, and splendid specimens of their kind. 

 As in other species belonging to this family, the feathers readily 

 leave the body. 



Some weeks later I heard the same sound. Woof, woof, at Stanley, 

 a mountainous district of Victoria, some 2.500 feet above sea- 

 level, and located a pair of birds perched high up in a tall eucalypt 

 tree. Upon 17th August of this year (1915) Tmet the bird much 

 lurther south, close to Euroa, on the Mansfield road. Two of 



