262 Jackson, Discovery of ihc Female Rufous Scruh-Bird. [i^t'^X'Irii 



scrul)s of New South Wales in 1898, and 1910, and in the Rich- 

 mond River scrubs of N.S.W. in 1899 and 1904, it is a great" 

 mimic ; in fact, there is hardly a bird in the scrub that it cannot, 

 imitate the notes of. It also renders the peculiar " scolding note," 

 as was noticed with these birds by me in New South Wales. 



The male specimens in the Macpherson Range frequently mim- 

 icked to wonderful perfection the notes of the following scrub 

 birds: — Spine-tailed Log-Runner [Orthonyx teiiiviiiicki), Rufous 

 Fantail {Rhipidura rnfifrons), White-throated Thickhead {Pachy- 

 cephala pectoralis), Yellow-rumped Robin {Eopsaltria chrysorrhoa), 

 Lewin's Honey-eater {Ptilutis lewinii), White-throated Tree- 

 creeper {Climacteris leucophcBo), Satin Bower-Bird [Ptilonorhyn- 

 chus violaceus), Yellow-throated Scrub-Wren {Sericornis harbara), 

 Square-tailed Cuckoo {Cacomantis variolosus), King Parrot [Apros- 

 mictits cyanopygiiis), White Goshawk {Astur novcB-liullandicc), and 

 Coachwhip-Bird {Psophodes crepitans). 



I saw and located over a dozen of the male Atrichornis during 

 my three months of observation work on the Range, and the area 

 they occupied extended over the range for a distance of 10 miles. 

 The birds are often miles apart, and much country may be tra\-- 

 ersed day after day without hearing one, and the bird can never 

 l)e located until it calls, because it is small and always hidden 

 in the scrub. Very often the bird calls only after sunset. How- 

 ever, during September last it called chiefly before dusk or just 

 after sunset, and always at the same place. One bird, that I was 

 daily watching very closely, called often through the day as well 

 as after sunset, but he was an exception. During October they 

 called more often through the day, more so about 4 p.m. There is 

 no mistaking their call, so loud and penetrating for a small bird, and 

 different from anything else in the scrub. I hunted the locality 

 until I located every bird that called. During November and up 

 to the end of the first week in December they became silent. This 

 complete silence surprised us both very much, and had we not 

 arrived in the scrubs before these wonderful birds became silent, 

 and actually seen them, no person could ha\^e convinced me that 

 they existed in those parts at all. They are certainly the most 

 difftcult and tiresome birds imaginable to get a glimpse oi, much 

 less procure, and no persons can form any conception or appreciate 

 the complications of the task until they have actually had the 

 practical experience themselves. 



The birds are very local in their habits, and do not go beyond a 

 certain area of the scrub. For instance the area occupied by one 

 bird, or one pair of birds, would not be more than, say, 150 yards 

 by 150 yards, yet for a person to examine that area properly in 

 such a labyrinthal undergrowth is a big undertaking. Tlie birds 

 at each place located appeared to have their boundaries, and they 

 do not go beyond them, and my frequent visits to their liaunts 

 have proved this over and over. They always travel over the same 

 places, and along underneath the sides of tlie same logs, and 

 underneath the same heaps of fallen trees and rubbish, when the\' 



