THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Coastal belt in the large timber, and another in the Mallee and Interior. The 
bird found in the Mallee some distance from the sea does not differ much 
from the Interior Mulga Scrub bird. Those birds found up to eighty to one 
hundred miles from the coast are very dark in comparison to the Interior 
bird. This bird spends most of its time during the daylight sitting almost 
motionless on the branch of a tree ; if there be more than one, they will sit 
in the same direction as the branch with the bill resting on the back of the 
bird immediately in front giving the appearance of a dead bough or limb ; have 
seen two immature birds sitting between the parent birds. A few years 
ago a pair of these birds put in their appearance at my old home on the Reed- 
beds, and I had a good chance to observe them as they roosted in a tree 
within ten or fifteen yards of the house ; they brought up young every year, 
in some instances two broods. They are very local birds, returning each 
morning to the same tree and branch ; each year a pair of young birds have 
taken up a fresh locality for themselves and have spread over the country 
into the neighbouring estates. It has been put forward by some that this 
bird gives the Boo-book call. This is not right, for during the many years 
that these birds have been within touching distance never once did they 
give this call. The call they make is a low booming or grunting note, easily 
imitated by closing the mouth and making a grunting sound through the 
nose. The}’’ sit so still and simulate the bark of the trees so well that often 
the most experienced eye will fail to detect them. As far as I know, they 
live entirely on insects : nothing else have I found in the stomachs examined. 
Have found them nesting in August, September, October and November. 
It is vddelv distributed over the whole of South Australia and as far north 
of the MacDonnell Ranges as I have been.” 
Mr. L. G. Chandler from Victoria wrote : “I regarded this bird for many 
years as a very inoffensive creature. In numerous cases when I had examined 
a nest containing eggs or young, the owner had departed without offering any 
opposition. On one or two occasions, certainly, the bird had glared at me 
from a neighbouring tree, but it had never ventured to attack. At Frankston, 
Victoria, on the 11th of December, 1910, in company with my father, I met with 
a very pugnacious example of this species. I detected a nest on a horizontal fork 
of a Eucalyptus, about twenty-five feet from the ground. The bird was sitting 
in its characteristic attitude. A short search on the ground revealed fragments 
of egg shells. I was anxious to examine the young, so commenced to climb the 
tree. When about ten feet from the bird I threw a small piece of bark at it. 
Instead of flying off the nest, as I expected, it opened its eyes and looked very 
savage. Several attempts to dislodge the bird were of no avail. I determined 
now to find out how much opposition it would give if confronted with a stick. 
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