594 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



common, but rather shy ; however, by sitting down and 

 quietly watching in some favourite locaUty, one or more 

 wouhl soon ahght on a hmb or branch, run along it with 

 great celerity, stop abruptly every now and then to thrust its 

 beak under the loose bark in search of insects, and then fly 

 off as suddenly as it had arrived. Occasionally I have seen 

 one anxiously watching me from behind a branch, its head 

 and neck only being visible. At this time (June) the young 

 males were very pugnacious, and upon one occasion three of 

 them were so intent upon their quarrel that they allowed me 

 to approach sufficiently near to kill them all with a single 

 charge of dust shot. The adult males were comparatively , 

 rare, always solitary and very shy. I never saw them upon 

 the trees, but only in the thick bushes and masses of climbing 

 plants beneath them ; on detecting the vicinity of man they 

 immediately shuffled off among the branches towards the 

 opposite side of the thicket and flew off" for a short distance. 

 I did not observe them to utter any call or cry ; this, how- 

 ever, may have arisen from my attention not having been so 

 much directed to them as to the females and young males, 

 which I was more anxious to procure, the very diff*erent style 

 of their colouring having led me to believe they were a new 

 species of Fomatostomusy 



The male has the general plumage rich deep velvety black, 

 glossed on the upper surface, sides of the neck, chin, and 

 breast with plum-colour; feathers of the head and throat 

 small, scale-like, and of a shining, metallic bronzy green ; 

 feathers of the abdomen very much developed, of the same 

 hue as the upper surface, but each feather so broadly mar- 

 gined with rich deep olive-green, that the colouring of the 

 basal portion of the feather is hidden, and the olive-green 

 forms a broad abdominal band, which is sharply defined 

 above, but irregular below ; two centre tail-feathers rich 

 shining metallic green, the remainder deep black ; bill and 

 feet black. 



