80 RUDOLF SÖDERBERG, STUDIES OF THE BIRDS IN NORTH WEST AUSTRALIA. 
most tail-plumes growing out and has just finislied with the others. Otherwise this 
specimen appears to be fully-moulted. 
Moulting-season. — Comes in January, but there are specimens moulting in 
March too and even at the beginning of May. The July specimens are not in moulting. 
The white spot on the back of the neck seems to be an old mark, which at 
an earlier period has been more developed. 
Ecological. — The pallid cuckoo was common, especially in Beagle bay. On 
some occasions, when I approached, I observed how the bird took up a stiff position 
with the head straightened and bent forward. Though it was sitting crosswise on 
the branch, the body was turned almost entirely along the branch. I used to 
look at it for a rather long time, and then approach it so closely that I might have 
been able to touch it with my gun. It still kept stiff and motionless, looking at 
me. This position is evidently something like that of Podargus, its object being to 
make the bird "invisible to its enemies. It ought to be mentioned that the colour 
of the plumage is not a little like that of a branch of a tree. 
Mesocolius palliolatus'LATH. 
Maåth. handl. nir 409. 9 ad., 2 SS ad. Beagle bay, Dampier I. ?/z, !5/,, 17 TIIL: 
These three specimens from Beagle bay are quite like one another and agree in 
every respect with the description in Cat. of birds. Specimen no. 3 has a worn, 
bleached plumage with paler rufous-buff on the under-side. Might be a younger bird. 
Moulting and moulting-season as well as breeding not observed. 
Was not rare in Beagle bay (July). 
Mesocolius palliolatus (subspecies?). 
TAS Ad. sNerbys KMD Asdo.Fesuor TOA 
These two adult birds differ to such an extent from those mentioned above, 
and thus from the specific character, that they cannot be exactly identified in Cat. 
of birds. The habitat, Kimberley (Derby), is the same for both of them and different 
from that of the former (Dampier land). The variations are as follows: Ashy brown 
with an olive shade like the type, but not darker or more grey on the crown, the 
hind-neck or the nape, which are of the same colour as the back. Upper tail-coverts 
like the back, no. 2 has white margins on the outer webs. Breast and throat ashy- 
grey with a few faint rufous-buff spots. Belly whitish with a tint of rufous-buff 
on the sides of the body. Under tail-coverts rufous-buff, no dusky bars, tail-feathers 
with white tips and six (not five) white bars. On the second primaries a blotch of 
rufous-buff, the same as on the inner ones. This characteristic is missing in the 
