THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



151 



NOTES ON THE NARROW-BILLED BRONZE CUCKOO. 

 By A. J. Campbell. 



{Read before the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, \3th December, 1897.) 



The Narrow-billed Bronze Cuckoo, Chalcites basalis, Horsf., is 

 found throughout Australia, including Tasmania. 



The arrival of this bird in southern parts is concurrent with the 

 tide of the other cuckoos, its laying season commencing about 

 the end of September and continuing into December. There is 

 a noteworthy fact in connection with the two common Bronze 

 Cuckoos frequenting the southern parts of Australia. The one 

 that lays the olive or bronze-coloured egg invariably, or with few 

 exceptions, deposits its burden in dome-shaped or covered nests, 

 while the Narrow-billed (the species now under notice) chooses 

 either dome-shaped or open cup-shaped nests as receptacles for 

 its red-speckled egg. 



As far as my data go, the following species are among the 

 foster birds of the Narrow-billed Bronze Cuckoo : — 



Vernacular Name. 



White-shafled Funtail ... 

 Blue Wren 

 Long-tailed Wren 

 Orange-backed Wren ... 

 Black-backed ,, 

 White- winged ,, 

 Yellow-rumped Tit 

 Buff-rumped ,, 

 Tasmanian ,, 



Striated ,, 



Little Yellow ,, 

 Little brown ,, 

 Scarlet-breasted Robin ... 

 Red-capped ,, 



W 1 1 ite-fronted Scrub-Tit 

 Yellow-throated ,, 

 Large billed ,, 



Shorl -billed Tree-Tit 

 Rufous-headed Grass- 



Warbler 



White- fronted Bush-Chat 

 Field Lark 



Scientific Name. 



Rhipidura albiscapa 



Malurus cyaneus ... 



M. gouldi 



M. melanocephalus 



M. melanotus 



M. leucopterus 



Geobasileus chrysorrhoea 



G. reguloides 



Acanthiza diemenensis ... 



A. lineata ... 



A. nana 



A. pusilla ... 



Petroeca leggii 



P. goodenovii 



Sericornis frontalis 



S. citreogularis 



S. magnirostris ... 



Smicrornis brevirostris ... 



( 'isticula ruficeps ... 

 Ephthianura albifrons 

 Calamanthus campestris (?) 



New Holland Honey-eater Meliornis novce-hollandia: 



White-cheeked ., .. M. sericea 



White-eye ... ... Zosterops coerulescens 



Red-browed Finch ... /Egintha temporalis 



Orange-winged Sitella ... S. chrysoptera 



By Whom First 



Recorded or 



Reported. 



G. E. Shepherd 

 E. P. Ramsay 



H. Barnard 

 A. J. North 

 A. J. C. 



E. P. Ramsay 



A. J. North 

 E. P. Ramsay 



A. J. North 



A. J. C. 



A.J. C.( Kent Group) 



Hermann Lau 



A. J. North 



G. A. Keartland 



J. T. Gillespie 



C. French, jun., and 



party 

 A. J. North 

 E. I'. Ramsay 

 A. J. North 

 E. Cornwall 

 G. E. .Shepherd 



