^190-!"'] Berney, N. Queensland Notes on Some Migratory Birds. 2 I 1 



for their late arrival. These notes refer to the Hughenden and Richmond 

 districts. 



White-shouldered Caterpillar-eater (Lalage tricolor). — Showed up 

 during the month of September in 1898 and on the 23rd August the fol- 

 lowing year. I found a nest with two eggs on the i ith November in 1898. 

 Notes refer to Cameron Downs, 40 miles south of Hughenden. 



GOULDIAN Finch (Poephila gouldice). — Concerning this very handsome 

 Finch, I cannot do better than repeat the information given me by a bird- 

 catcher who is a keen ornithologist. He reported it as being a summer visitant 

 to the Homestead district, where the earliest arrivals might be looked for 

 at the end of November, or more probably during December, the main 

 body arriving during January, by the end of which month they would 

 be fairly plentiful. They nested there, building their nests in the spouts 

 of hollow trees, and left again at the end of April, when they are supposed 

 to journey north-west. All the old birds and most of the young ones go, 

 but some of the latter remain right through the winter. The immature, 

 which are very plain coloured, do not obtain their full adult plumage till 

 Christmas. They extend as far west along the northern railway line as 

 Torrens Creek. They are always known as " Painters " to Homestead 

 people. 



Channel-BILL {Scythrops novcs-hollandicg). — A summer visitor. My 

 earliest records of having heard its rasping screech are 27th October, 1898, 

 near Hughenden, and i8th October, 1900, at Homestead. My latest date 

 is 4th March, 1901. 



Koel {Eudynamis cyanocephald). — I have only come across the Koel 

 about Homestead, where it was fairly common during the summer of 1900 

 and 1901. I first heard its loud, clear, indescribable call on 22nd December, 

 and my latest date is 14th March. The birds confined themselves to the 

 timber along the river and creeks, never in my experience being seen out 

 on the ironbark ridges. During January they were living on the hard, 

 green, unripe fruit of a wild fig that grew on the river's bank. 



COUCAL (Centropus phasianus). — " Coop coop coop coop coop coop coop 

 coop coop," with a pause after the first " coop " and the balance rattled off. 

 Who, hearing in the early morning this curious call for the first time, has 

 not wondered from what bird it could possibly come ? I did, and put it 

 down to some sort of Heron, for the sound came from the creek. But a 

 few days later I found I had made a mistake, and so did the Coucal, which 

 enabled me to make the following observations : — Feathers of the neck 

 lanceolate, stiff, harsh, and spiny ; tail that is much too long for its body, 

 and over which it appears to exercise very little control ; an exaggerated 

 lark-like spur on one of its hind toes, a pair of very keen hawk-like eyes, 

 a deep-keeled breast bone and thick, meaty thighs, and a strong, capacious 

 stomach, which was crammed with grasshoppers ; it was an immature 

 specimen I had secured, immature to the extent that it had not yet attained 

 to the black plumage state. What a strange bird this is. I have only 

 one year's experience of C. phasianiis ; this was at Homestead, where I 

 believe it to be a migratory bird, arriving there in the middle of September, 

 and after spending the summer leaving the district at the end of March 

 or early in April. The only thing against this idea is that I shot one, the 

 one just mentioned, on the 30th June, but of course it is possible odd birds 

 remain through the winter ; but I saw or heard no others. Only to be 

 found along the timbered creeks where the undergrowth is tall and rank. 

 Their cry in the early morning, their favourite time, may be heard at a 

 distance of two or three miles. 



