264 Jackson, Discovery of (he Female Rufous Scnih-Bird. [,sf ^pHi 



this range. However, it was not until after four weeks of constant 

 and most diligent searching and watching that we discovered and 

 secured the elusive and long-hunted-for female — date 17th October, 

 1919. I decided at the beginning that the only hope of discover- 

 ing her was to stick to the place where one male was located 

 and sometimes seen, and work that spot most thoroughly. This 

 we did. It was a useless task to try and do the same with, say, 

 half a dozen males scattered over an area of miles through the 

 very tall, dense scrub. 



Discovery of the Female. 



This is how we found and secured the female. We visited our 

 favourite locality early on the morning of the 17th, and could 

 find no sign of the male bird — he M'as silent, and was possibly 

 feeding with the female ; but experience would lead to the assump- 

 tion that when he called he was not with or near the female, and 

 when he remained silent for hours or days then he was most of 

 his time with her, thus giving no clue as to where she was. 

 However, at 3.30 p.m. he started his shrill notes once again in a 

 little gully, where we had often seen him. We sat on the ground 

 and listened for a few moments ; he was under the rubbish only 40 

 feet west of us. Suddenly he became silent, and in a short time 

 started to call loudly again some 40 yards to the east. This 

 appeared to me very curious and unusual, and I concluded he 

 had met the female when he moved from where we first heard 

 him calling. As he shifted so suddenly, while we sat silent and 

 motionless, with nothing to disturb him, all tended to show that 

 he went away on a special message of some sort. In hopes that 

 the female was somewhere between the first and last place where 

 he issued his notes, I decided that we should work gradually to- 

 wards one another from both these points, and keep a sharp 

 watch for another bird. 



As we advanced we kept a keen look-out, when all at once we 

 heard a faint sound and saw another Atrichornis. At this moment 

 the male was calling loudly nearly 100 feet away (measured) at 

 one of his favourite spots well known to us. After much care 

 and patience we succeeded in driving the bird through an entangle- 

 ment of vines and debris, where, after some 20 moments of careful 

 watching and intense anxiety, I fired from a distance of about 15 

 feet, and the bird fell, beautifully shot, not a mark on her, and not 

 a feather or drop of blood lost ! The charge contained about 30 

 grains of dust shot from a small 410 specimen gun, a few only 

 striking her. Four cartridges were specially prepared, and always 

 carried by me, loaded with dust-shot for distances varying from 

 40 to 10 feet, especially for this bird if ever met with. The bird 

 ])rovcd to be the much-searched-for female. After I fired the male 

 bird (which was then calling nearly 100 feet away) made some great 

 and unusual noises, as if he knew something had happened, and 

 came towards us much agitated, but keeping well hidden. 



I immediately copied down into \\\x bush note-book particulars 



