ig8 Howe, Notes on the Genus Pycnoptilus. [isf'Aprii 



The young are born blind and nearly naked. Dark grey down 

 is distributed sparingly on the crown and the back. The gape 

 is yellow, and the inside of the mouth orange. On about the 

 fifth day the eyes open (the irides are black or very dark brown). 

 When the chick is about a week old the feathers are well developed, 

 and those along the abdomen (which at birth was naked) are 

 white and well defined, the primaries are half unfurled, the 

 gape is creamy-white, and the mouth yellow ; general colour above, 

 dark brown. On 15th November, 1908, we disturbed a pair of 

 birds with their 3^oung, and, after an exciting chase, managed to 

 capture one of the fledgehngs. It was apparently about six weeks 

 old. The gape was still of a whitish colour, and the general 

 plumage was practically identical with that of the parents. 

 When the young bird is about three months old the gape assumes 

 a greyish hue, and adult plumage is doubtless attained after the 

 first moult. The wing feathers are moulted in pairs. Both 

 parent birds feed the young while they are in the nest, and for 

 a considerable time afterward. The young follow their parents, 

 uttering a soft, wheezing note, an appeal for food, which is taken 

 from the side of the parent's bill. When the young are in the nest 

 the food is dropped into the open beak. Often, when watching 

 the young after they had learned to shift for themselves, I have 

 heard them utter the " Guinea- a- week " and other notes, but so 

 low as not to be heard further than a few paces away. On' 12th 

 January, igo8, I flushed a female from a pair of dark grey eggs, 

 and the male was attending to the wants of two birds a few months 

 old close by. On nth December, 1910, we saw a young bird, 

 well fledged, being fed by an adult male. In colour the fledgehng 

 resembled the young of Pachycephala pectoralis youngi, being of 

 a uniform light fawn. 



As already mentioned, the Pycnoptilus acts as foster-parent to 

 the Fan-tailed Cuckoo. One of the strangest cases is worth 

 recording. On 4th November, IQ14, we followed a pair of Pilot- 

 Birds about until the female had gathered a beakful of fur. 

 Separating from the male, she made off uphill, with three of us 

 in pursuit. The nest was built on a small piece of sword-grass 

 backed up against a fallen dead tree, and facing downhill. As 

 she sat close we flushed the bird, anticipating a pair of eggs ; but 

 there was only one, and we concluded that the second egg had 

 yet to be laid. A week later we again visited this nest, and were 

 surprised to find that the egg had disappeared. The ground 

 sloped from the nest, and about 7 feet away appeared a small 

 gutter, and over this was a clear patch of bare earth about 

 18 inches square. Just as we were turning away one of the party 

 happened to glance at this bare patch, and there, lying close to 

 each other, were two eggs of the Pilot-Bird, intact. They were 

 perfectly fresh. Of course, we at once blamed a Cuckoo (or 

 perhaps two Cuckoos), and while we were talking and wondering 

 at this strange sight Mr. Ross found a Cuckoo's egg, broken, 

 within a foot of the Pilot-Bird's eggs. Our deduction was that 



