l86 Hall, Morning Song of the Noisy Miner. [isf"ian 



the following highly- pitched notes most surely broke into the 

 morning : — -We-we, we-we, we-we, we-we. With a brief rest of 

 another three seconds the singer of these high and sweet notes 

 from the same position sent forth four liquid notes — Pick-up, 

 pick-up. 



At this time our Tasmanian Magpie, Gymnorhina organicuni. 

 finding himself to be awake, contributed his series of organ-like 

 notes. I think the carol of the Magpie is eclipsed by the song of 

 the Miner, generally referred to as the plainest of plain birds — 

 the " common Delft " of the feathered world. By the finding of 

 this song in our district, I feel as if I had unearthed a thing of 

 rare beauty, open to the public between the hours of 5 and 

 5.20 a.m. in the spring of the year. 



As more light came in so less song came out. What impressed 

 me was the absence of nearly all the day notes — the common 

 notes — the whole being a long series of different bars rendered in 

 fairly regular order to get effect. 



It was on the following morning that I hoped to be awake to 

 get a record of this really happy outburst. I was fortunate in the 

 following result : — 



2nd Oct., 1915, 5.4 a.m. ; morning calm and fine ; locality, 

 Bellerive, Hobart ; the position as yesterday, and doubtless the 

 same male bird nesting in the garden near the window of my 

 dressing-room sang (see plate). Now followed a long interval 

 and silence, except for the Tasmanian Magpie's voice, which 

 is rather like the tuning of a 'cello ; inferior to that of the 

 Victorian species, and superior to that of the Western Australian 

 form. 



The silence of the Miner continued to 5.50 a.m.. when it gave 

 the first of its daylight calls — the well-known and unmelodious 

 thin and reedy querulous notes. A second long silence followed 

 up to 7.5 a.m., when the interval was terminated by another series 

 of day-time notes — Peep-peep, peep-peep. The morning song had 

 lasted just twenty minutes. 



3rd Oct., 5.3 a.m., was the opening time of the second observa- 

 tion. The complete time of the song was eighteen minutes. The 

 first phase started with a low, indefinite note to lead the We-we 

 on its way — approximately Tche-we-we. The We-wes are subject 

 to regular variation of pitch, though every note of the phrase is 

 the same as the first. It is this variation that helps the agreeable 

 effect. Near the conclusion the Tek of Ko-tek had a lengthened 

 accent upon it, and the notes of the Ko-tek had the same pitch. 

 Between 5.13 and 5.18 a.m. the intervals became wider. 

 Between 5.18 and 5.21 there was no interval. The five notes 

 immediately following were very faint. These were the last of 

 what I certainly feel was its most definite and interesting psalm 

 of dawn. The phrases throughout the first two-thirds had fairly 

 regular intervals. 



The sounds in order from first to last were : — -Tche-we-we ; 

 ko-tek, ko-tek, ko-tek, ko-tek (with slight variation) ; phed-e-rate ; 



