112 Dr. O. Finsch's Ornithological 



its congener in Kushai^ I generally found singly. Both 

 species frequent the gardens^ and keep more on the outskirts 

 of the virgin woods, whereas the interior, with its almost 

 impenetrable thickets of trees, undergrowth, and ferns, is the 

 dwelling-place of Myiagra pJuto, Rhipidura kubarxji, and Vol- 

 vocivora insperata. The latter is a shy bird, exposing itself 

 only momentarily to the observer. The manner of this bird 

 is Thrush-like, whereas the two former much more resemble 

 the Muscicapidae. They rest on the lower branches of trees, 

 watching for insects, or hover in the air to catch them. Rhi- 

 pidura, especially, has a most lovely appearance in the thick 

 of the woods, spreading out and closing its erected and 

 strongly-marked tail-feathers, and fully deserves the English 

 appellation of " Fantail.^^ Phlegoenas is confined to the 

 interior of the woods, where it lives chiefly on the ground, 

 and therefore easily escapes the observer, as was the case with 

 me. Along the outskirts of the woods, and generally near 

 to water, I found Halcyon cinnajnomina ; its peculiar cry, 

 quickly and often repeated, arrests the attention of the orni- 

 thologist. They are seen mostly in pairs, sitting on a dead 

 branch and watching for their prey, which consists chiefly of 

 insects and lizards. Erythrura trichroa lives in small flocks, 

 but is very local, and found only on a few of the more open 

 and stony places on the hills. Far more rare and localized is 

 Jplonis pelzelni, being, as Mr. Kubary tells me, confined 

 to the high mountain-regions. ]Mr. Kubary showed me the 

 nest and eggs of Erythrura ; and oologists will be astonished 

 to hear that the eggs are, contrary to all analogies, of a pure 

 and uniform white. Calamoherpe syrinx is a true Calamo- 

 herpe in every respect in habits and mode of breeding. The 

 nest is built in the same style as that of our Calamoherpe 

 turdoides, and fixed on two or three stems of reeds above 

 water. How different localities can modify manners and 

 habits considered to be peculiar, this species clearly shows ; 

 for, from what Mr. Kubaiy tells me, this species breeds in 

 the Mortlocks (where no reeds are found) in trees, and, what 

 is still more remarkable, gregariously, there being a number 

 of nests on one tree. I had not the pleasure of hearing this 



