THE WOMBAT. 119 



or five having been seen at a time hovering round, and 

 dipping their long beaks into the flowers. 



An orchardist brought me two fine specimens of Strep era 

 cuneicaudata from Harcourt ; he said they were terrors on his 

 grapes. Gymnorhina leuconota is common enough, but I 

 have not seen tibiceu yet. 



Of course we have Corvus coronoides with his mournful 

 wailing. The first time I heard one of these birds I really 

 thought it was a human being in distress. A much pleasanter 

 sound in the bush is the musical note of Colly riocincla har- 

 monica, a very common bird. At present the call consists of 

 one shrill musical note, but later on they will sing quite a 

 tune. Talking of notes of birds, I was frequently puzzled by 

 one shrill metallic note, which I often traced to a certain tree, 

 and as soon as I got there it was behind me, and then on the 

 one side, and then on the other, until I was bewildered. At 

 last one day an ill-advised bird squeaked while he was flying, 

 and then the murder was out ; it was Climacteris leucoph&a, 

 these birds are perfect ventriloquists. I notice some have an 

 orange tuft behind the ear and some have not, male and 

 female I presume. We also have C scandens and a Sittella, 

 which is gregarious, generally seen in flocks of a dozen or so. 

 I have only shot one specimen yet, I think it is S. pileata, but 

 am not quite sure. Not having any bird friends I rely upon 

 Broinowski for my identifications, in conjunction with Mr. 

 Campbell's list. 



Of the so-called robins I have four species. Petroica 

 plwenicea can generally be seen on the bare hillsides and flats 

 in larger or- smaller flocks. I saw over twenty together one 

 morning, mostly females. P. leggii {multicolor is a prettier 

 name) hunts in couples, and I have not seen them in flocks 

 yet. Eopsaltria australis is fairly common, and Melanodryas 

 bicolor occasional. 



Rather a fine looking bird is Oreoica cristata, and not 

 uncommon. I notice the male has an orange coloured iris, 

 while that of the female is yellow. Another crested bird 

 frequently seen is Falcunculus frontatus. Pachycephala gut- 

 turalis is common ; the bird exhibits a greater difference 

 between the sexes than most of the species I have come 



POTTEH & EfiERY, SS Z 



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