96 
The Queensland Naturalist April, 1945 
Whistler is now a bundle of energy. His song can be 
heard at every hour of the day and the female, although 
lacking the full-bodied effort of the mature male, can sing 
quite well. Immature males in speckled plumage are often 
mistaken for females by the uninitiated. The antics of the 
male are well worth watching. With drooping wings and 
tail spread fanwise, he approaches the female rocking 
excitedly across his perch and uttering an agitated 
“whirrit whirrit!” or “weearit weearit!” or “whirrit eeit! 
whirrit eeit ! ’ ’ The female invariably responds in a 
similar manner and will often crouch down upon the perch 
and move her wings in a trembling manner. The imagin- 
ative listener may be tempted to declare this a courting 
display, were it not for the fact that the Rufous-breast is 
observed going through the same procedure under many 
different situations. 
For variety and sustained effort the Rufous Whistler 
has few superiors among Australian songbirds. He is 
neither shy nor temperamental. He sings on the nest — the 
male Rufous-breast (and also the Golden) although taking 
little part in next building, assist in the incubation and 
rearing of the young — sings while his or her; bill is full of 
insects or nesting material ; sings during the heat of the 
mid-day and afternoon and the well-known response to 
any loud report often is responsible for a brilliant effort 
during a thunderstorm. His whistling note rings out loud, 
clear and vigorous and generally following upon this is a 
series of notes often sustained for quite a period, thus 
absolving the Rufous-breast from the charge that has been 
land against some of our song birds, that of being short- 
winded. “Choo choo choo choo!” he cries or “choo-oo 
choo-oo!” or “chee-voo chee-yoo!” or another variation, 
“ee-yoo ee-yoo!” Another phrase, “chip chip chip chinj" 
not quite as hard as phonetic interpretation might suggest 
it. Another series of notes, “whit whit whit whit!” or 
“ee-ip- ee-ip ee-ip or “eep eep eep eep!” rising to a 
crescendo ; the Rufous-breast is capable of many variations 
in his song. 
A further series of notes includes the familiar 
“ee-chong!” or as it sometimes sounds, “ee-choo!” or 
“ee-young!” For a bird to repeat this twenty times or 
over is not uncommon. Perhaps his sweetest note is the 
phrase “oo-whee!” or as it is sometimes given, “too- 
whee!” or “too-too-whee ! ” The “wliee” is emphasised 
and extended, giving, at times, a bell-like tone and repeated 
