TNSESSORES. 



193 



but I do not recollect meeting with it in the midst of the thick 

 brushes, — situations which probably are uncongenial to its 

 habits and mode of life. It is very abundantly dispersed 

 over the plains of the interior, such as the Liverpool and 

 those which stretch away to the northward and eastward of 

 New South Wales. 



Its flight is undulating and powerful, but is seldom exerted 

 for any other purpose than that of conveying it from one 

 part of the forest to another, or to sally forth in pursuit of an 

 insect which may pass within range of its vision while perched 

 upon some dead branch of a high tree, a habit common to 

 this bird and the other members of the genus. On such an 

 elevated perch it sometimes remains for hours together ; but 

 during the heat of the day seeks shelter from the rays of the 

 sun by shrouding itself amidst the dense foliage of the trees. 

 Its food consists of insects and their larvae, and berries, but 

 the former appear to be preferred, all kinds being acceptable, 

 from the large Mantes to others of a minute size. 



When the young, which are generally two in number, leave 

 the nest, the feathers of the body are brown, margined with 

 light grey ; this colouring is soon exchanged for one of a 

 uniform grey, except on the lower part of the abdomen and 

 under tail-coverts, w^iicli are white, and a mark of black 

 w^iich surrounds the eye and spreads over the ears : the 

 throat and forehead in this stage are lighter than the re- 

 mainder of the plumage, which is somewhat singular, as in 

 the next change that takes place those parts become of a 

 jet-black; and this colour, I believe, is never afterwards 

 thrown off, but remains a characteristic of the adult state of 

 both sexes, which are at all times so similar in size and colour 

 as not to be distinguished from each other. 



It breeds in October and the three following months. The 

 nest is often of a triangular form, in consequence of its being 

 made to fit the angle of the fork of the horizontal branch in 

 which it is placed ; it is entirely composed of small dead 



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