PLATE 



XLIY. 



PACHYCEPHALA RUFIVENTPJS (G. R. Gray). 



RUFOUS-BREASTED THICKHEAD. 



THE range of the present species is very large, extending as it does over all the continent of 

 Australia, except the extreme north. Like most of the other members of the genus, it does not 

 frequent the brushes, but remains in the more thickly timbered forests, where its loud whistle is 

 continually heard. 



Its food consists principally of insects, but this diet is sometimes varied by berries and seeds. 



During the months from September to December, which constitute the breeding season, a 

 cup-shaped nest is constructed of fine sticks and roots, and is placed either on one of the horizontal 

 branches of a tree or in a shrub. Three eggs are laid, the average length of which is eleven lines, and the 

 breadth eight lines. The colour is olive, spotted, particularly at the larger end, with brown. 



The male has the head and upper surface dark bluish-grey ; lores, ear-coverts, and a crescental 

 band across the chest, black ; wings and tail, very dark brown, tinged with blue ; throat, greyish-white ; 

 under surface, orange ; irides, bill, legs, and feet, dark brown. 



The female has not the black band across the chest-, and has the upper surface light fawn-colour 

 instead of orange. 



Habitats : Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Western Australia. 



PACHYCEPHALA FALCATA (Gould). 



LUXATED THICKHEAD. 



THIS is the northern representative of Pachycephala Rvfiventris, from which it differs very little 

 either in habits or appearance. In the neighbourhood of Port Essington it is very abundant. 



The breeding season commences in September, and lasts till the end of November. Two eo-o-s 

 are laid in a cup-shaped nest, constructed of fibrous roots and small sticks. 



The head, upper surface, wings, and tail are dark bluish-grey, the wing-feathers margined with 

 brown ; ear-coverts and lores, brownish-grey ; throat, greyish-white ; a crescent-shaped mark on the chest 

 black ; under-surface, dark orange ; bill, legs, and feet, grey. 



The female is, in all essential points, the same in appearance as the female of Pachycephala 

 Itufiventris. 



Habitat : North Coast of Australia. 



