52 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



by the cat that kept its place in this lobby. If one of a pair was 

 caught the mate would go away for from one to three days, and 

 return with a consort. In a day or more one of that pair would 

 be captured, and away the other would go for a mate and return 

 with it. As to which sex was killed no one could say, but I 

 should think the same one, and every time the stranger, thus 

 showing the persistency of one bird to follow up an idea, just as 

 one of the same species will start to rebuild its nest after it 

 has been purposely knocked down on four occasions within a 

 month. 



In those districts where swallows build mostly in burnt-out 

 trees, the fox makes a thorough inspection, and all that are not 

 more than six to eight feet above. the ground sooner or later are 

 precipitated — sometimes when empty, at others when containing 

 the sitting bird. The fox will jump or scramble up the distance, 

 and grasp in its mouth nest and bird. It seems most unfor- 

 nate that this scourge should have got among our terrestrial fauna, 

 of which that beautiful form the Lyre-bird has not suffered 

 least. 



(6) Pachvcephala gutturalis, Latham, White-throated Thick- 

 head. 



" The Pachycephala gutturalis may be regarded as the type of 

 this genus, the members of which are peculiar to Australia and 

 the adjacent islands to the northward. Their habits differ from 

 those of most other insectivorous birds, particularly in their quiet 

 mode of hopping about and traversing the branches of the trees 

 in search of insects and their larvae ; caterpillars constitute a great 

 portion of their food." This was Mr. John Gould's impression of 

 the representative species under present notice. 



As recently described by the writer before the Royal Society of 

 Victoria, this species has three phases of plumage, very dis- 

 tinctly different — (a) rufous, (b) grey, (c) yellow, black, white, and 

 grey. 



Mr. Graham now corroborates what I there expressed, by closely 

 observing the male grey bird of nest II., as under, to have a trace 

 of the black pectoral collar only and the merest speck of abdo- 

 minal yellow. The male of this pair of breeders when first seen, 

 e.g., when selecting a covert in which to build (ioth October, 

 approx.) appeared uniform grey and darker upon the crown. The 

 pectoral collar could only be faintly distinguished on the ioth of 

 December. 



To watch a pair that is not in nuptial plumage is easy enough 

 when it has selected the portion of dense covert it intends to 

 occupy with the nest. Like many birds, they have a way of letting 

 you know the place is sacred to them for a season. 



