f 
THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
out and replaced by a Cuckoo’s egg. . . . The adult appears to do most 
of its feeding on the ground, as we have frequently flushed it wliile walking 
slowly. Its flight resembles that of the two Bronze Cuckoos {C. hasalis and 
C. plagosus).^^ 
Mr. Thos. P. Austin of Cobbora, New South Wales, has written me ; “ Until 
the early spring of 1914 1 had never seen a living bird of the Black-eared Cuckoo, 
but on October 18th, 1913, a young friend, who lives about twelve miles from 
here, wrote to inform me that he had found a nest of the Little Field-Wren 
with two eggs, also an egg of a Cuckoo. Thinking it would be sure to be an 
egg of the Fan-tail, I was very much surprised a few days later, when he brought 
me the set, to find the stranger was an egg of the present species, this being 
the first instance of this bird visiting this district. But during the spring and 
summer months of 1914-15 these birds were fairly numerous here, and I had 
splendid opportunities of studying their habits, and twice evidence of their 
breeding here came under my notice, but in both cases they used the nest of 
Chthonicola sagittata. One nest contained a young bird which I examined many 
times before it left the nest, but by that time it was so fat and large the nest 
could not have accommodated it, had it not expanded as the young Cuckoo 
grew. The other nest contained an egg of the visitor, and two of the rightful 
owner. They are extremely quiet birds, and owing to their habits in this 
respects, can easily escape notice, usually seen in some low bush growing in 
fairly thick scrub, where they lazily hop about gathering their food, often 
sitting perfectly still for a few minutes, then will probably fly down on to the 
ground to feed at short intervals, over which they hop about in a very quiet, 
sedate manner. Wlien in a bush they will often allow an intruder to approach 
within a few feet of them, to all appearance taking not the shghtest notice. A 
person unaccustomed to their nature would imagine the bird had not observed 
them, but upon a still closer inspection thej^ just simply slowly fly to a neighbour- 
ing bush only a few yards away. They appear to move about alone, as I have 
never seen two birds together, nor have I ever heard one call or utter a note 
of any sort. The young bird which I examined in a nest was just brownish- 
grey all over.” 
Captain S. A. White’s conclusions read : “ As far as South Australia is 
concerned, this is a northern bird and seems to keep to the drier parts of the State. 
I found it thinly scattered over the far interior during my many trips through 
Central Australia ; it has a very distinctive call and when ouce heard would not 
be forgotten. Small birds mob them, drawing the traveller’s attention to the 
Cuckoo, which most hkely would be otherwise overlooked.” 
Mr. Edwin Ashby’s notes confirm the preceding : “ The Black-eared Cuckoo 
appears confined to the drier districts of this State. I have never noted it in the 
334 
A 
