FINE FEATHERS AND FINE BIRDS 139 



sidering Australia's Whistlers. Practically all of 

 them are possessed of sweet voices, but they show 

 broad distinctions in coloration, from sober grey to 

 bright yellow. Half a dozen species, in fact, are 

 favored with plumage which ranks its owners 

 among the beauty-birds of the world. Were these 

 bright-colored Whistlers originally of modest dress, 

 gaining their sunset yellows and reds in the com- 

 petitive struggle of the ages? There are connect- 

 ing links of color and voice to support this idle pre- 

 sumption; but then, why should certain members 

 of the group retain their sober garb while kin- 

 spirits were growing in beauty? 



Almost it would seem that the grey birds are sen- 

 sible of an invidious distinction, for theirs are the 

 plaintive voices among a party of notable melodists. 

 John Gould described the notes of P. simplex, a 

 little-known brown Whistler of the far North, as 

 "peculiarly soft and mournful," and, listening again 

 in fancy to the softly-Celtic tones of a grey bird in 

 the South (P. gilberti), I find both adjectives quite 

 fitting. In each case known to me the voice seems 

 to accord strangely with the garb of the bird. Sur- 

 passing sweetness is an ever-present quality, but, 

 whereas the calls of the quietly-dressed birds are 

 sweetly subdued, those of the golden-breasts are 

 rich and challenging, while the sparkling lilt of the 

 warm-brown-breasted birds achieves the dignity of 

 a song. 



For all their gay clothes and disposition, however, 

 the male Golden- and Rufous-breasted Whistlers, 

 equally with the paternal birds of the less noticeable 

 species, take their turns at brooding the eggs and 



