^°'i9?i^'] CHISHOLIM, Xofcs on Tzvo Nczi' Birds. 9 



and soft, and it was so elusive that, after repeated attempts to 

 see the author, the settlers had christened it ''The Mystery-hird.'' 

 Twice Mr. O'Reilly took me to the spot, on Mount P>ithongabel, 

 where the bird was wont to call, but disappointment met us on 

 each occasion. Xot a fragment of the haunting music was 

 heard. 



Evidentl}- the weather was against us. Conditions that year 

 were dry. There is no mistaking the melodious voice of a 

 Pachyce'fhala, but, although we camped on I>ithongabel for 

 several (lays in 1918, I heard only the familiar call of the Yellow- 

 breasted \\'histler (P. pcctoralis) \ whereas in the bountiful 

 season of 1920-21 there was no difficulty at all in hearing the 

 new W'liistler. 



Candidly, it must be said that on O'Reilly's description I enter- 

 tained no idea of the bird being a W'liistler. lie denied it to be 

 the Golden-breast, and it would have been a rash guess to sug- 

 gest that one of the southern members of the genus had found 

 its way to the wild, jungle-crowned, 3800ft. high crest of the 

 Macpherson Range. The best I could do was to assume the 

 *']\Iystery-Bird" to be our other elusive friend, Atrichornis. 

 This belief held until the end of 1919, when Jackson came down 

 with reciting evidence — one forlorn specimen of an Olive 

 Whistler. 



The success attending the same collector's renewed visit to the 

 Macpherson Range in 1920 rendered our "Mystery-Bird" a pro- 

 blem no longer. Nevertheless, I was eager to hear the melo- 

 dious voice and to gaze upon the bird in life. This time, as pre- 

 viously mentioned, there was no trouble in gratifying the ear; 

 but to sec the caller was quite another matter. Jackson — an 

 accomplished mimic — had told me that the call of the species ex- 

 pressed the words '"Pee-po," uttered slowlv and drawn out. This 

 "phrase," however, was not the one we first heard. It was 

 on December 30. W'e had just entered the beech countrv on 

 Bithongabel — the magnificent old Antarctic beeches (Xcofaqris 

 luoorei) are almost restricted to the lush, dew-dampened heights, 

 from about 3500ft. upwards — when we heard a new Whistler. 

 The call was a plaintive, essentiallv-sweet, short bar, and re- 

 called vividly the melody of the Gilbert Whistler iP. qilbcrti). 

 bird of the drier northern parts of Mctoria. .\ hard hunt fol- 

 lowed. A pair of the birds was calling, but they kept moving 

 on ahead, well out of sight, as I advanced through the tangle. 

 Those were the voices of sirens, and by the time they had faded 

 in the distance I was nearlv bushed. 



A mile or so further along the track a second pair of Whistlers 

 called. This time the expression was not a four-note but a two- 

 note call, the sweet "Peeeee-]Joooo !" Stealing quietly into tiie 

 tangle. I got close enough to call one of these birds. I: re- 



