52 MATESHIP WITH BIRDS 



song or call can be detected in the distance, no mat- 

 ter how loud the Choirs of Spring. 



There comes to mind the morning of a day in 

 Spring when, in a pleasant recess of the bush, I 

 tried to separate for a pair of bright young school- 

 teachers specific calls from out a maze of bird- 

 melody. We soon gave it up. The rich canticle of 

 the Rufous-breasted Whistler and the resounding 

 trill of the Fantailed Cuckoo were acknowledged 

 readily enough, but the finer undertones the airy, 

 delicate note of the Spotted-sided Finch, for in- 

 stance were entirely lost on the uninitiated ears. 



Coincident with the arrival of the Cuckoos, or 

 very soon afterwards, come the Cuckoo-Shrikes, 

 handsome, grey-clad creatures, which have the flight 

 of the parasitic birds. But there resemblance ends. 

 In the view of other birds, in fact, it does not begin. 

 They know quite well that the Cuckoo-Shrikes have 

 none of the egg-foisting effrontery of the Cuckoos, 

 and so the long-bodied, grey visitors are received 

 on terms of amity. 



To the roving boy of September days the best- 

 known Cuckoo-Shrike the Black-faced Graucalus 

 of the ornithologist is the Blue Jay, or Lapwing, 

 titles which would be infinitely more acceptable 

 than the ponderous "official" name were they not 

 borrowed; older countries have got in ahead of us. 

 Precedents trouble young Australia very little, how- 

 ever, and I surmise that Graucalus melanops will 

 continue to be the "Lapwing" every time a boy sees 

 a bird, or a company of birds, at the pretty prac- 

 tice of wing-waving. This, as a usual rule, is only 

 followed immediately the "jays" have lit upon a 



