56 SOME USEFUL AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



surface, so that when placed in the fork of a tree its outward surface blends- 

 with its surroundings. It contains a pair of bright-green eggs speckled all 

 over with brown. Like other robins, this one does not escape the attention 

 of lazy mother cuckoos, for the Pallid Cuckoo (Cuculus pallidus) often places 

 her egg in the nest. The unfortunate robin nestlings are then thrown out 

 of the nest by their sturdy foster-brother and come to an untimely fate. 



The Pheasant-eoucal or Scrub-pheasant (Centropus phasianus Latham). 



Gould's Handbook, vol. I, p. 634, No. 388. 



The popular name of Scrub-pheasant is a very unfortunate one for this; 

 curious bird, which has nothing in common with the true pheasant, except 

 some likeness in coloration of its plumage. By classification and structure it 

 is a cuckoo,- but in its habits it differs from its nearest relations ; for instead 

 of the hen laying her eggs in the nests of other birds, she constructs a large 

 dome-shaped nest of her own with an opening on either side, so that her head 

 sticks out of the front door, and her long tail stands out through the back 

 entrance. The nest is usually placed in a tuft of long grass carefully con- 

 cealed from view, and contains from three to five eggs, very round, dull-white, 

 and as Gould says, " somewhat like those of a Cormorant." 



Though the Pheasant-eoucal ranges as far south as our Illawarra scrubs,, 

 it is a rare bird until one gets much further north, and most of my own* 

 experiences with it have been in the north Queensland brushes and the- 

 coastal districts of north-west Australia. Its natural home is in marshy or 

 swampy land where there is plenty of cover, but it also frequents the banks of 

 creeks and rivers. Usually found upon the ground when one is travelling 

 through the bush, they fly up into the nearest tree with a frightened squeak, 

 and with a series of flying jumps get up to the topmost branches. Their 

 powerful feet are admirably adapted for the life they lead upon the ground, 

 scratching over the rubbish, They are omnivorous in their diet, and though 

 chiefly insectivorous nothing comes amiss. 



The members of the genus Centropus (which is a compound Greek word 

 meaning " spine foot," in allusion to the large claw on the hind toe) are a 

 curious group of birds distributed over the greater part of Africa, India, 

 China, and Malaysia to Australia. The typical Indian species is a large 

 bird over 2 feet in length to the tip of its tail. When describing our species 

 Stephens called it Cuculus phasianus, but Illiger created the present genus 

 for an African species, so our bird came under the same heading. 



The Orange-backed Wren (Malm us melanocephalus Vig. and Horsf). 



Gould's Handbook, vol. I, p. 333, No. 196. 



Red-backed Wren is another name for this handsome little bird, and 

 Lewin, in his " Birds of New Holland/' called it the Scarlet-backed Warbler. 

 Unlike the Blue Wren, it does not visit our gardens, but frequents the well- 

 grassed valleys along the mountain sides usually in pairs, not in small 



