Q2 Howe, Observations on the Genus Hylacola. r,sf"oct 



.83 X .61, (c) .83 X .61. I now claim my set to be the type clutch 

 of H. c. hrevicauda. Twice I have taken the egg of the Fantail 

 Cuckoo {Cacomantis riihricatiis), and on one occasion that of the 

 Narrow-billed Bronze-Cuckoo {Neochalcites hasalis mellori), from 

 the nest of this bird. In The Emu, vol. xiii., part 3, p. 149, I 

 named this form as a foster-parent of Chalcococcyx plagosus, from 

 information received in a letter from the late Mr. C. M'Lennan 

 (" Mallee-Bird "). I rather think the strange egg was that of 

 the Black-eared Cuckoo [Owenavis osculans). On 9th October, 

 1909, Messrs. J. J. Scarce, J. A. Ross, and I found a nest con- 

 taining one egg and one young Hylacola, just hatched. It was 

 blind and featherless ; gape creamy-yellow, and the whole body 

 perfectly black. Two days later I found a nest containing three 

 fully-fledged young, that scattered as soon as the nest was touched. 

 After much running we secured the lot. The plumage was 

 identical with that of the parents, but the gape was cream in 

 colour, mouth orange, irides dark brown. 



Mr. A. J. Campbell, in his " Nests and Eggs," page 265, says : 

 — " I have watched these birds in the Mallee. They hop about 

 in pairs over the ground and through the under-scrub like 

 Maluri." I think Mr. Campbell is wrong in saying they " hop." 

 A Sparrow " hops," but the Hylacola, in its mode of progression, 

 is like an Amytornis — half running and flying, with the tail held 

 erect. 



It is a fact that if the nest is touched, even if it contains an 

 egg or two, the birds immediately desert it. At Underbool, in the 

 North-West Mallee of Victoria, on 8th September, 1910, I was 

 watching the suspicious actions of a Fantail Cuckoo in a small 

 mallee bush in thick scrub. The Cuckoo was perched a few feet 

 from the ground, and I could see by its actions that it kept 

 looking towards the foot of the tree. I walked up and found a 

 Hylacola's nest nearly finished. I did not touch it, and quickly 

 and quietly left the vicinity. After a week I visited the spot, 

 hoping to take a nice combination clutch, but the nest was nearly 

 pulled to pieces. This experience has been too frequent to please. 



H. c. whitlocki (Western Ground- Wren). 



Four skins collected by Mr. F. Lawson Whitlock for Mr. H. L. 

 White at Mount Monderup, Stirling Ranges, Western Australia, 

 are here exhibited. 



This form is the most beautiful, the markings on the throat 

 and breast being very much darker than those of halmaturina 

 (the next darkest), and quite as broad as those of that bird, but 

 much broader than those of cauta and hrevicauda. The abdomen 

 is whiter than any other of the genus, the chestnut upper tail 

 coverts are brighter, and the tail longer. In size it is equal to 

 hrevicauda, both cauta and halmaturina being larger. Mr. Whit- 

 lock made two trips to the Stirling Ranges on behalf of Mr. 

 H. L. White during the seasons 1910-11, and his field notes are 

 worth recording. In The Emu, vol, xi., p. 239, Mr. Whitlock 

 says : — 



