BLACK-EARED CUCKOO. 
Adelaide Hills, but have seen it in the Mallee country between the Adelaide 
Hills and the River Murray. I have a specimen in my collection procured at 
Rhine Villa on 6th Sept., 1907, a male, and last year (1916) on the 8th September 
several birds were calling in the tall mallee in the neighbourhood of Mackara on 
the Broken HiU line. I secured a male which shows considerably less rufous 
coloration on the underside than the Rhine Villa specimen. The call of this 
bird, while reminding one of the call of C. basalis, is very distinct. The long- 
drawn-out first note dying away with a downward inflection, is much weaker 
than in basalis ; at some distance the first note is the only portion of the whistle 
heard, and then reminds one of the warning whistle of the Scrub Robin. It is 
onty when one is nearer that the second and lower note is distinguishable. The 
bird is in the habit of setthng on some exposed bough, often a dead one, and 
keeps up the double whistle for quite a long time. Although the cry is so much 
weaker than that of C. basalis, it is strangely penetrating, the bird being usually 
double the distance away the sound leads one to expect.” 
Mr. F. E. Howe wrote me : “ Have only seen two individuals in the Mallee. 
Once at Pine Plains, Sept. 1907, and once at Kow Plains, Sept. 1908. 
The last I secured : it had been perched on a dead mallee bush and had flown 
down to capture a caterpillar when I got it. Wlien skinning it I thought it 
contained an egg and was very careful not to break it, but to my surprise it 
turned out to be a very hard round ball of caterpillars very low down in the 
abdomen and quite close to the vent.” 
Mr. Tom Carter states : “I should call the Black-eared Cuckoo distinctly 
rare, as only two birds were obtained by me during nearly thirty years residence 
in West Austraha. Both of them were obtained near Point Cloates. One was 
on a rocky range. May 19th, 1898, and the other near a flooded flat, thirty miles 
inland, April 16th, 1900. Both of these birds were creeping quietly about, and 
feeding in low bushes.” 
Mr. J. P. Rogers’ notes read : “ Parry’s Creek, North-west Australia, 
Nov. 2, 1908. — ^Four of the above species seen for the first time this 
season. Nov. 3. A great manj^^ to-day. Nov. 5. — Still very numerous. 
Nov. 14. — Numbers are increasing. Never saw so many Cuckoos in one 
spot. These birds were at the same place as the C. basalis, but are ey^n 
more numerous, or perhaps their being larger and bolder than the smaller 
bird makes them more conspicuous. Nov. 17. — Have now left the place 
as the caterpillars have nearly gone. Dec. 7, 1908. — ^Not common now, 
but three seen to-day. March 16, 1909. None seen for some time. April 
2, 1909. — One came into a tree near my camp.” 
Whitlock {Emu, Vol. IX., p. 193, 1910) writing of the Birds on the East 
Murchison observed : “ Much commoner than the PaUid Cuckoo, but I had no 
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