164 MATESHIP WITH BIRDS 



hat distinctly unnecessary the strong bill of the 

 bird would then be in action. Verily, the late Frank 

 Myers, devotee of Australia Felix, had much 

 justification for writing of Mag., his "happy, dear, 

 and blessed bird," as "unlike any other creature unto 

 whom was ever breathed the breath of song . '. ~. 

 unexampled as the forest he overlooks." 



So there you have it cheerfulness, courage, and 

 originality! Setting aside other attributes of this 

 essentially-Australian bird, in these qualities lies 

 the reason for the appreciative, if impracticable, 

 suggestion that the Magpie's borrowed name should 

 be altered to that of "Anzac-Bird." 



The Black-throated Butcher-Bird has much in 

 affinity with its relative. Thought slightly smaller 

 than the Magpie, it has the same build and general 

 color-scheme, inhabits the same class of open 

 country, and is possessed also of pronounced musical 

 and fighting ability. I have heard the Magpies sing- 

 ing their love-songs to the morn (and also to the 

 moon) on many occasions, but not even those 

 carolling choruses were sweeter than the concert 

 performance of a quartette of Butcher-Birds 

 rollicking in the bush beside Moreton Bay on a day 

 in October. The notes most freely heard from 

 individual birds lack the continuity of the Grey 

 Butcher-Bird's spirited melody, and constitute 

 a chortle rather than a song. But they are in- 

 describably rich and pure, and add a certain gipsy 

 wildness to what is probably the nearest approach 

 made by any Australian bird to the full, rolling tones 

 of a pipe organ. 



