146 MATESHIP WITH BIRDS 



nite in its movements than the golden birds, the 

 Rufous-breasted Whistler is a nomad rather than a 

 migrant. You may chance to see either the pretty 

 male bird, clad in reddish-brown vest, grey coat, 

 and white collar with black band, or the quietly- 

 garbed female bird in almost any part of Australia 

 at any time of the year. Pre-eminently, however, 

 the bird is one of the elves of Spring. 



In Southern Australia Spring would not be com- 

 plete without the Rufous-breasted Whistler. Its 

 clear, ringing warble is one of the most joyous lilts 

 in the bush and country towns from early August 

 to the end of the year. All libels to the contrary, 

 the female bird is scarcely less melodious than her 

 eloquent partner. It is the rufous-breasted bird, of 

 course, that chiefly furnishes the well-spring of 

 music, but I suspect this to be due largely to the fact 

 that he has, in the words of Prospero, "more time 

 for vainer hours" than the expectant mother-bird. 

 Into the paean of Spring the pretty visitor throws 

 his whole spirit. 



There is one bar in particular, a chattering ripple 

 suggestive of the pattering of elfin feet, that an in- 

 dividual bird will sustain for as long as half a 

 minute without pausing for breath, what time the 

 throat pulses and the little body vibrates with the 

 melody. It is, too, a notable fact and here is a feat 

 which no human singer could safely attempt that 

 the spontaneous music of the birds is not hampered 

 by a full mouth; when photographing young 

 Whistlers I have seen the parent birds emitting pas- 

 sionate protests from bills that were almost 

 crammed with orchard flies. 



