104 MATESHIP WITH BIRDS 



is required to create the musical chiming im- 

 mortalised by the poet, whereas our crested friend of 

 the interior gives a beautiful solo performance. As 

 a natural corollary to this fact, his is the more varied 

 music; his voice is fuller, rounder, more golden in 

 tone, and echoes "with ring and with ripple" of a 

 melodious quality that cannot be equalled by the 

 silver-bell-voiced bird of the gullies. 



As a boy in Victoria I knew the Crested Bell-Bird 

 very well. Its mellow chiming was one of the most 

 characteristic sounds of our bush, and, following the 

 commonsense boyish practice of allowing a bird to 

 choose its own name, we knew it as "Dick the Devil" 

 and "Whack-to-the-rottle." The latter title was 

 rather uncouth, but, listening again in fancy to the 

 peculiar, liquid run of notes, it seems to me that the 

 juvenile ear rendered them as near to human speech 

 as was possible in the words, "Dick, Dick-Dick, the 

 Devil" the whole phrase to be taken leisurely, with, 

 on the last syllable, a liquid drop as that of a small 

 stone splashing into a pool or a soft "clicking" of a 

 human tongue. 



Never by any chance is the Bell-Bird persuaded 

 to ring its ventriloquial chimes in a hurried manner. 

 But even the most sober-minded of Nature's children 

 must make some concession to the sweet o' the 

 year; and so, when the fire of Spring is in the 

 air, the Bell-Bird frequently repeats his golden 

 roundelay in a higher key, introduces wavering 

 variations into the first portion of the melody, and 

 adds one or two other syllables before drop- 

 ping into the final pearl of sound probably the 

 most melodious single note in the whole range of 



