scvTiiKoi's. 3:5 



the Australian Museum shot on the 12th December, i.Sgfi, near the Maajuarie River, about 

 one hundred miles below Dubbo. Another was shot at I.eadville, two hundred and thirty miles 

 west of Sydney, while in the act of eating whole apricots. 



Fruits and berries of various kinds form the staple article of diet, which is sometimes 

 varied with insects. .A stomach of one examined contained the seeds of a Fiu: and the heads, 

 les;s and elytra of beetles, amon.ic them beintj those of a species of AiwploL^iiatliin. 



It is impossible to give any idea of the loud, harsh and discordant notes of this species, 

 which may be frequently heard during the night as well as in tne daytime, but when once heard 

 they cannot be confounded with those of any other species. 



Mr. G. A. Heartland, who was a member of the Calvert Exploring E.xpedition in 1896-7, 

 in Western and North-western .Australia, sends me the followmg notes:— " Srvflirops novcc- 

 If'UiVidia- makes its appearance in the I-'itzroy River District, North-western Australia, in the 

 early months of the year, January or February, and just about the time of the tropical rains. 

 It is generally known as the 'Storm Bird.' As soon as its loud notes are heard the Crows 

 and Hawks appear to be excited. They attack it from all sides, but the snapping of the huge 

 bill of the Scvllnvps warns its enemies to keep away. It is impossible to say how many eggs 

 It lays, but one female I shot had four well developed yolks on its ovaries. When the young 

 Channel-bills leave the nest the foster-parents are most attentive to their wants. Whilst the 

 foster-parents live chiefly on flesh, all the Channel-bills I have shot liad nothing hut small black 

 tigs in their gullets. I have known two young ones to be taken from the nests of tiie Western 

 Itrown Hawk (llicvtuidea ocfidnifalls ) and the Crow (Coitus uvoiioiJcs)." 



Dr. W. Macgillivray writes me as foll.jws : — - .S', r//»v/>v iwi:r-hoUaiidi,f is fairly common m 

 the Cloncurry District, Northern (Queensland, arriving about the middle of December and 

 departing again about the end of April or early in May. Single young Channel-bills are most 

 often seen tended by a pair of Crows, and pairs occasionally. .A Channel-bill has been known 

 to throw young Crrdlliiiij out of their nest." 



From Bimbi, Duaringa, (Queensland, Mr. H. (i. Barnard reports:— " .SVr//;/v/'s ;;,)<-,('-/;„//„;;i/;„- 

 is very rare in this district, but 1 have seen it in numbers on ttie coast and in the north feeding 

 on the wild iigs. That it does breed here occasionally is proved by the fact that some years 

 ago I saw a pair of Black-backed Magpies {Gymnorhiiia tibiccii) feeding a fully fledged young 

 one. There are very few native berries in the scrubs in this part, although they form one of the 

 principal foods of these birds." 



Mr. Robert (irant has given me the following note : — "I found the Channel-billed Cuckoo on 

 the Bellinger River, in New South Wales, and in the coastal scrubs of the Cairns District, 

 North-eastern (Queensland. They usually go about m flocks, varying from about three to nine 

 in number, and keep to the tops of the tallest trees, where they join each other in a chorus of 

 harsh, yelling cries, more especially before rain, or when they are menaced by danger. On one 

 occasion I saw Kve or six of them in a very excited state, flying from branch to branch, and 

 uttering their unpleasant cry. (.)n looking upwaids I discovered a carpet snake, about six feet 

 long, hanging down from one of the branches, hence the cause of their alarm. The stomachs 

 of those examined contained seeds and berries of different kinds, also grass-hoppers and other 

 insects." 



Mr. George Savidge has kindly sent me the following notes from Copmanhurst, on the Upper 

 Clarence River, New South Wales:— "The Channel-billed Cuckoo ( ScytJirops noro'-hoUandia), or 

 more usually called the ' Fig I lawk' by the Clarence River residents, is more plentifully dispersed 

 on the Upper Clarence River than on the low lying flat lands nearer the coast. It may be seen 

 and heard daily in the virgin scrub on Susan Island, opposite Grafton, and wherever the wild 

 I"'ig abounds you are almost certain to find the Channel-i)ill. It is a migratory species, arriving 



