62



On the White-throated Thickhead.



over to this country from Australia during the last few years.

It inhabits the same country as this “ Robin,” and could be quite

as readily obtained. The specimens from which the drawing has

been made came from the banks of the River Murray, in New South

Wales. These birds are quite numerous in that locality, as also

are their near relatives the Rufous-breasted Thickheads (P.

rufiventris). In the latter species the cock has the yellow of the

underparts replaced by a beautiful chestnut, and the green of

the back, wings and tail, by slate grey, whilst the black and

white of the head and throat remain unchanged. The females

of the two species are almost alike.”


The White-throated Thickhead is found throughout

Eastern and South Australia and in Tasmania. Gould writes:—

“ It is rather abundantly dispersed over the forests of Eucalypti

and the belts of Acacia, among the flowering branches of which

latter trees the male displays himself to the greatest advantage,

and shows off his rich yellow breast as if desirous of outvieing

the beautiful blossoms with which he is surrounded.


“ The stomach is very muscular, and the principal food

consists of insects of various genera, which are sought for and

captured both among the flowers and leaves as well as on the

ground.


“ It is generally met with in pairs, and the males are more

shy than the females. It flies in short and sudden starts, and

seldom mounts far above the tops of the trees.


“The voice of the male is a single note, seven or eight

times repeated, and terminating with a sharp higher note much

resembling the smack of a whip.”


Mr. A. J. Campbell, in his splendid work, tells us that

the nest is cup-shaped, and “ composed chiefly of shreds of

bark and fine dark-coloured twigs, neatly lined inside with finer

twigs, rootlets, and sometimes portions of fine grass, and placed

usually a few feet from the ground in a thick bush in a gulley, or

in a scrub near a stream. Dimensions over all, about 5 inches

by 2 ij- inches in depth ; egg cavity, 2 % inches across by inches

deep.”


The eggs, according to the same authority, are “ oval in



