CHANNEL BILL. 
appearing with the thunderstorms which usher in the wet season, were common 
during the summer months. On 8th February, 1910, Mr. M‘Lennan noted 
eight in one tree. On 12th March, 1910, he made the following note : ‘ Struck 
a channel of the Gilliat River, and found a Short-billed Crow’s {C. bennetti) 
nest, containing five young Channel bills almost ready to leave the nest. I 
took two for specimens. They were all in series — ^there seemed to be about 
two days between each of them, and one would be led to believe that the eggs 
had been laid by the same bird.’ As two young Channel biUs have often been 
seen by several reliable observers being fed by Crows or other foster-parents, it 
seems certain that they do not eject one another from the nest. At the same 
time it is equally certain that they eject the progeny of their foster-parents. 
How is it that such nestlings are able to distinguish between their own kith 
and kin and those of the foster-parent, especially, as seems to have been the 
case with the five young Cuckoos, where they were hatched out in succession ? 
Unfortunately, as darkness overtook Mr. McLennan on this occasion before 
he could regain his camp, and he had to spend the night under a tree, the 
stormy weather spoiled the skins, but a description was made of one, a male : 
‘ Head fawn-colour ; back, tail, and wing-coverts mottled fawn, grey, and 
brown ; tail and wing-feathers barred ; under-surface dirty white. Irides 
brown, bill reddish-brown. No trace of a channel on the bill. Legs lead-colour. 
Stomach contents, caterpillars, beetles and grasshoppers.’ Another Crow’s 
nest contained one young Channel bill, and a third an egg of the Channel 
bill with one of the Crow. The loud screeching call of this species could be 
heard at any hour of the day or night. At Cape York they were seen only 
occasionally.” 
Ramsay, writing in 1875 of the Birds of North Queensland, wrote : “ These 
species {Scythrops novcehollandice, Eudynamis flindersi, Centropus phasianus) 
are aU common enough throughout the whole district, the Scythrops usually 
met with fiying about the tops of high trees in companies of five to eight in 
number ; they have a loud, harsh guttural croak, which is most usually heard 
earty in the morning. The Eudynamis frequents fruit-bearing trees of every 
description, and feeds on numerous species of berries found in the scrubs, 
occasionalljT- visiting gardens in the neighbourhood of the settlements for a hke 
purpose. The Swamp Pheasant or Cuckoo, as it is usually called {Centropus 
phasianus) is very numerous, and may be always found frequenting the exten- 
sive grass-beds throughout the Colony. These birds prey on mice and small 
animals, holding them with their feet, and tearing them to pieces if they are too 
large. I once had a pair of Centropus in confinement, and although scarcely 
nine months old, they readily killed mice or young rats when let go in their 
cage. The}!^ eat raw meat, grasshoppers {Locusta), hzards, frogs or bread readily.” 
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