304 CAPE YORK. 



On one of my excursions I shot a large brown Owl {Ninox 

 I'oobook), which was sitting at daybreak in the fork of a large 

 tree, and which my native guide espied at once, though I had 

 passed it. The great prize at Cape York is, however, the Rifle- 

 bird {Ptilorhis Alberti), one of the Birds of Paradise. It is of 

 a velvety black, except on the top of the head and breast, 

 where the feathers are brightly iridescent with a golden and 

 green lustre. In the tail also are two iridescent feathers. 

 The bird lives in the woods, where the trees and undergrowth 

 are twined with creepers. It does not frequent the higher 

 forest trees much, but the tops of the shorter sapling-like 

 growths and masses of creepers binding these together. 



The call of the bird consists of three loud, shrill short 

 whistling notes, followed by a similar but much lower pitched 

 note. The third of the first three whistles is somewhat louder 

 and shorter than the two preceding. This is the full call ; 

 sometimes only two notes are uttered before the low note, and 

 sometimes only a single whistle. 



The call is most striking and peculiar, nnd guided by it, one 

 steals gradually through the wood, treading cautiously upon 

 the dead leaves, and tries to creep within shot. The call is 

 uttered usually only at intervals of several minutes ; it is very 

 easily imitated by whistling, and thus a call may often be 

 elicited, and the bird's whereabouts discovered. 



The bird is extremely shy ; the snapping of a dead twig is 

 sufficient to scare it, and it requires great patience and perse- 

 verance to shoot one. It several times happened to me that 

 I got within fifteen or twenty yards of a Rifle-bird, and stood 

 gazing into the thick tangled mass of creepers overhead, where 

 I knew that the bird was, without being able to get a glimpse 

 of it, until at last it darted out without my catching sight of it. 



The bird takes short rapid flights from one part of the bush 

 to another, the rounding of the front of the wings giving it 

 a peculiar appearance when on the wing. The Blacks pointed 

 out the red fruit of the Areca palm as its food, and I found 

 abundance of the seeds of this palm in the stomach of the one 

 bird which I shot, which was hopping about up and down 

 amongst a thick piece of bush, much in the manner of a wren 

 or warbler. The male in full plumage is indeed a splendid 

 ot3Ject ; the female and the young birds of both sexes are of a 

 dull brown colour, as is the case with all the Birds of Paradise. 

 When walking in the woods in search of birds, a slight 

 rustling in the fallen leaves attracts one's attention, and the 

 Black guide becomes greatly excited. It is a pair of the 

 " Mound-birds " {Megapodus tuftmhis), which are disturbed and 

 are seen running off like barn-door fowls, and when thus luckily 



