50 McGILP, The Black-handed JVhiteface. ["^isfS" 



normally large clutches. I mention this, as A. J. North, in 'Xest 

 :<m\ Eggs," gives the clutch as 3 or 4. In May of ihis year I 

 went into this sandhill country i)rincipally at the request of 

 Captain S. A. W hite, who asked me to secure a specimen of the 

 young from the nest. Whilst out there I found five nests of the 

 Black-banded W'hiteface, but in every instance only two young 

 were in the nests. Two young birds I have presented to the 

 South Australian Museum ; both show the adult plumage, and 

 also have down-like feathers on the head. 



Ill the building of its nest, both birds share in the carrying, 

 but only one, rhe female, I presume, does the building. 1 noted 

 tiiat both birds left the nest together after material. Only one 

 carried material on returning to the nest, which it worked into 

 ])lace, whilst the mate sat on a bush whistling sweetly until the 

 l)uilder was finished ; then the whistler tlew off alone, and re- 

 lurne«l with a jjicce of material, which the builder took and 

 worked into the nest. When this was done, both birds flew off 

 together, but only one carried stuff back to the nest, and the 

 above system of building was continued. One would think that 

 the presumably male bird considered it impossible for its mate to 

 build correctly unless he was whistling on the bush above the 

 nest. I watched one pair on several occasions, and two or three 

 otlier pairs once, but each pair worked on the same lines, each 

 bird carrying in its turn, never together, and undoubtedly only 

 -one bird Iniilt the nest. 



When 1 took the young birds in May this year, I noted that 

 i.n each nest the long funnel had been broken out. evidently to 

 allow the parent birds more easily to feed the young, which were 

 all nearly ready to leave the nest. 



Though two Bore Streams ran through the part I \isited, I 

 failed to note one of these birds at water. I camped for three 

 months in 1920 on the water, and these birds, although numerous 

 close to the water, were never actually seen along the P.ore 

 Stream. Most birds were watering during that dry period. 



The rUaok-banded Whiteface spends a great deal of its time 

 on the ground after insects, which are its principal food. It has 

 an unusually ioud sweet whistling note, and when not breeding 

 is to be found in small flocks. 



The eggs of this l)ird are verv dift'crent from those of it> con- 

 gener, the CDmmon Whiteface { .1 f'hcloccf'hala Icucof^sis). The 

 texture of the shell is finer, the egg is narrower and more pointed, 

 while it is lighter in coloration, with the blotches and markings 

 more diffused. 



Though there were jjlenty of dry hollow >tumps and small 

 hollows in trees close to where these birds were breeding. 1 did 

 not find that they had used any of them. The common White- 

 face was nesting in some of the hollows. 



