Io6 Campbell, Birds of Rockingham Bay District. \i^"o^ 



Oct. 



Birds of Rockingham Bay District, 



By a. J. Campbell, C.M.B.O.U. 



In the remarks by Mr. H. G. Barnard and myself on the birds ot 

 this rich region which appeared in the last issue of The Emu, 

 two kinds were held over for further elucidation. 



Pachycephala queenslandica (Queensland Whistler). 



No birds are more puzzling in their phases of plumage than the 

 Yellow-breasted Thickheads. When we were on the flat country 

 and on Goold Island, during August and September, we procured 

 specimens which, although apparently adult, showed signs of 

 immature plumage (rufous edgings on the wing feathers, &c.), 

 and their notes were different. But when we went to the ranges 

 during October we found the males "full-throated" with song, 

 and with breasts resplendent with yellow. We now believe that 

 the grey birds of the coast and the full-plumaged ones of the 

 range are referable to the race above-named. 



PtiloHs Icwinii {chrysotis) (Yellow-eared Honey-eater). 



We found this a fairly coiiimon species. It frequented the 

 flowering citrus trees of gardens, and came into outhouses and 

 even dwellings after fruit ; hence sometimes the local name of 

 " Banana-Bird." In the open the bird fossicked various native 

 flowers, including the olive-green floriferous heads of a climbing 

 pisonia (P. aculeata). These flowers, judging by the hum of 

 insects (including a big " bumble bee ") about them, nuist be 

 heavily charged with nectar. 



Several nests of the Honey-eater were taken on the coast land, 

 and birds observed, but the nest which we were " shepherding " 

 on the table-land was destroyed by some evil thing. The table- 

 land birds were more tuneful, and frequently gave the character- 

 istic trilling whistle of lewinii, which we never heard the lowland 

 birds give- Therefore we thought the lowland variety might be 

 possibly P. notata, but the only skin obtained in that locality 

 proved to be lewinii. Could the commonly-reputed notata of 

 collectors, after all, be a northern form only of the widely- 

 distributed lewinii ? We regretted we did not get more material 

 while on the spot. 



Referring to pisonia trees and their sticky seeds, the late Mr. 

 A. J. North, in his " Nests and Eggs," vol. ii., p. log, when dealing 

 with Ptilotis notata, on the authority of Mr. Frank Hislop, Bloom- 

 held River, mentioned this Honey-eater in connection with 

 another pisonia (P. brunoniana), the seeds of which sometimes 

 hold a bird as with the best bird-lime. Indeed, the new material 

 must be more potent than the best bird-lime, because Mr. Hislop 

 has seen on the floor of the forest Nutmeg-Pigeons, a large Rufous 

 Owl (once), and a Crested Hawk, disabled by the chnging, glue- 

 like seeds. 



