28 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



"This very fine bird, which is not uncommon in the 

 vicinity of Cape York, was usually found in the densest scrub 

 among the tops of the tallest trees, but was occasionally seen 

 in the open forest land perched on the largest of the Eucalypti, 

 apparently resting on its passage from one belt of trees or 

 patch of scrub to another : like the CalijjjtorhyncM, it flies 

 slowly, and usually but a short distance. In November 1849, 

 the period of our last visit to Cape York, it was always found 

 in pairs, very shy, and difficult of approach. Its cry is 

 merely a low short whistle of a single note, which may be 

 represented by the letters ' Hweet-hweet.' The stomach of 

 the first one killed contained a few small pieces of quartz 

 and triturated fragments of palm cabbage, with which the 

 crop of another specimen was completely filled ; and the 

 idea immediately suggests itself, that the powerful bill of this 

 bird is a most fitting instrument for stripping off the leaves 

 near the summits of the Seaforthia elegans and other palms to 

 enable it to arrive at the central tender shoot." 



Lores deep velvety black ; lengthened crest-feathers greyish 

 black ; the remainder of the plumage black, with purple 

 reflexions ; irides purplish brown ; cheeks pale dull crimson, 

 bordered with pale yellow, the two colours gradually blending 

 into each other \ bill and feet purplish black. 



In the young male the tip of the upper and the whole of 

 the lower mandible is horn-colour, and the under surface is 

 brownish black, with narrow obscure crescentic marks of 

 yellowish white at the tips of the abdominal feathers. 



Genus CALLOCEPHALON, Lesson. 



Of this form the only species known is a very remarkable 

 bird, and is doubtless adapted for some particular mode of 

 existence ; being short and thickset, and furnished with a 

 very powerful bill. The sexes are alike in colour, except in 

 the hue of their long filamentous crest, which is scarlet in 

 the male and grey in the female. J 



