PALLID CUCKOO. 
numbers to the Fan-tailed Cuckoo. The female is speckled white and black, 
verj^ similar to the immature state, though usually showing more or less rufous, 
more pronounced on the neck, though in the case of a female I received from 
Leigh’s Creek, South Australia, Oct. 20, 1910, the breast shows more rufous 
than the neck. I have a male and female obtained by Mr. C. E. May, at Pine 
Creek, Northern Territory, which appear to be mature birds, but show a con- 
siderable speckling of white on the wings and a decided barring on both lower 
breast and flanks and yet show none of the streaky markings of the South 
Australian immature or female specimens.” 
Littler, of Tasmania, recorded {Emu, Vol. III., p. 215, 1904) : “I have never 
before seen so many birds of one species in such a small area. No two birds 
were seen together ; each bird seemed perfectly oblivious of the existence of any 
other member of the same species. Some of the birds were heard uttering their 
low, plaintive notes, while others were quite silent. Their flight is peculiar. 
When disturbed they fly with easy motion close to the ground for some yards, 
then, when close to the object upon which they are going to perch, they rise up 
almost perpendicularly on to it. The tail is jerked up and down, when perching, 
rather slowly. They appeared to obtain most of their food from off the ground.” 
Mr. Thos. Austin has given me the following good note : “ The PaUid 
Cuckoo is never seen here in anything hke such numbers as near the coast, but 
every spring a few of them are to be seen scattered about the more open country 
and even into the thick scrubs. It is generally met with singly, but I find that 
during the breeding-season they are mostly in pairs, though they do not keep 
closely in each other’s company like many other mated species. At these 
times they are mostly heard calling about two hours after sunrise, most probably 
as soon as their appetites have been satisfied. But their monotonous mournful 
notes maj^ be heard at any time, either day or night. Once a pair have mated 
they take up their quarters about a hmited area of country, and there they will 
remain until the breeding-season is finished. Should another bird of this species 
come within the bounds of that limited area, the mated pair will do their utmost 
to, at once, drive it away, chasing it from tree to tree, with loud shrieking notes, 
such as are not heard at any other time. Most of them arrive here early in Sep- 
tember, and take their departure towards the end of February. A few come much 
earlier (as my notes will prove) and some remain until the end of March. Their 
food chiefly consists of caterpillars if available, which they do not swallow upon 
the ground, but always fly into a tree, on to a fence or such-like perch, where they 
slowly devour their food. Very few of them breed here (Cobbora, New South 
Wales), but I have known them to place their eggs in nests of the following 
species in this district. White-plumed, Brown-headed, Warty-faced, and 
White-eared Honey-eaters, also Rufous-breasted Thickheads. In my oological 
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