126 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



The bird possesses little wing power, and depends on its legs for 

 safety, but if startled will hop up into a bush. It is given to 

 paying visits to the farmers' poultry yards and demolishing the 

 fowls' eggs. Three species of Cuckoos are noted. The Koel, 

 Eudynamis jlindersi, a large species, about 18 inches in length, is 

 called the " Cooee-bird," from the nature of the male bird's whistle ; 

 but the female has quite a different call. The mature male bird 

 is of a beautiful shining black, set off with carmine eyes. Its 

 wearisome " coo-ee " (the second part of the call a half-tone 

 higher than the first) is frequently heard during the night-time. 

 The Fan-tailed, Cacomantis flabelliformis, and the Brush Cuckoos, 

 V. variolosus, are plentiful. There is sometimes difficulty with 

 collectors in separating these two species, but where both are 

 common, as here, there is no trouble whatever in distinguishing 

 their different calls ; and when the birds are in hand it is noticed 

 that the former has the tail feathers conspicuously scalloped with 

 white on both the outer and inner webs, while with the latter only 

 the inner webs are marked. 



The Black Cockatoo, Calyptorhynchus funereus, and also the 

 Banksian, C. banksi, are often seen flying over ; the commonest 

 parrakeet is the Crimson, Platycercus elegans, the well-known 

 Rosella, P. eximius, being considered rare. But the district is 

 rich in Lorikeets ; the Blue-bellied, Trichoglossus multicolor, is 

 very destructive to the ripening maize crops, while the Scaly- 

 breasted, Psitteuteles chlorolepidotus, feeds in numbers in the Bean 

 and other flowering trees. Although I did not procure specimens 

 of the little Red-faced Fig Parrot, Cyclopsittacus coxeni, yet the 

 scrub is its home ; it feeds exclusively on the fruit of the Ficus 

 australis, and from its diminutive size would be very difficult to 

 see so high up among the broad leaves. 



(To be continued. ) 



Magpies.— Some little time ago Mr. D. Best read an interesting 

 paper before our Club on the magpie, and in it the question was 

 raised as to the reason for magpies having developed the habit of 

 flying at persons who happen to be in the vicinity of their nests. 

 Mr. A. F. Thiele, of Doncaster, a member of the Club, informs 

 me that he has taken particular notice of the habits of magpies, 

 and says that his observations, extending over a number of years, 

 lead him to conclude that a nest having once been robbed, the 

 parent birds develop the habit referred to, and in support of this 

 states that in his orchard there is a large eucalyptus tree, in 

 which for years past a pair of magpies have regularly nested, but, 

 owing to the height of the tree, the nests have not been molested, 

 the birds flying quietly away if persons approach close to the 

 tree.--C. French. Jun. 



