580 BIRDS or AUSTRALIA. 



appears to be strictly confined to dense and thick brushes, 

 particularly such as are of a humid and swampy nature, and 

 with the foliage of which the peculiar tint of its plumage 

 closely assimilates. I frequently met with it in companies of 

 from ten to forty, and occasionally still greater numbers were 

 seen disporting among the leafy branches in search of insects 

 and displaying many varied actions, at one time clinging to 

 and hanging down from the branches by one leg, and at 

 another prying beneath the leaves, or flying with outspread 

 wings and tail from tree to tree, and giving utterance to a 

 peculiar garrulous note totally different in sound from the 

 faint monotonous tinkle usually uttered, which has been 

 justly compared to the sound of distant sheep-bells, and 

 which, when poured forth by a hundred throats from various 

 parts of the forest, has a most singular effect. The same 

 appellation of Bell-bird having been given by the colonists of 

 Swan River to a species inhabiting that part of Australia, I 

 must here warn my readers against considering them identical, 

 by informing them that the two birds are not only specifically 

 but generically distinct. 



This bird has not as yet been observed out of New South 

 Wales, where its peculiar province is the brushes ; and if it 

 departs from those which stretch along the coast from Port 

 Philip to Moreton Bay, I believe it will only be found in 

 those which clothe the sides of the higher hills, such as the 

 Liverpool range and others of a similar character. 



Like the Mi/zanthcB it is of a prying and inquisitive 

 disposition, and the whole troop may be easily brought 

 within the range of observation by uttering any kind of harsh 

 squeaking note, when they will descend to ascertain the cause, 

 and evince the utmost curiosity. Its flight is of the same 

 skimming motionless character as that of the Garrulous Honey- 

 eater ; and upon some given signal the whole flock, or the 

 greater portion of it, fly off simultaneously and collect on 

 some neighboiu'ing branch in a cluster. 



