LEMON-BREASTED FLYCATCHER. 
the outer webs ; lores and an indicated line over the eye whitish ; a dark spot in 
front of the eye ; sides of the face similar to the top of the head but rather paler ; 
throat and fore-neck white ; upper-breast grey with a yellowish tinge ; abdomen 
yellow, becoming darker on the sides of the body ; under tail-coverts, axillaries, 
and under wing-coverts sulphur-yellow ; inner edges of quills below buffy-white ; 
remainder of quills below and lower aspect of tail brown. Eyes brown ; feet and 
tarsus black. Bill black, lower mandible brown. Total length 135 mm. ; culmen 
10, wing 72, tail 51, tarsus 15. Figured. Collected on Melville Island, Northern 
Territory, on the 19th of June, 1912. 
Adult female. Similar to the above. 
Immature male. General colour of the upper-surface including the head, back, wings and 
tail earth-brown with white pear-shaped spots at the tips of many of the feathers 
and a tinge of lemon-yellow on the back, outer webs of flight-quills and tail-feathers ; 
sides of face, breast, and sides of the body also earth-brown but rather paler than 
the back ; abdomen and under tail-coverts silky-white ; axillaries and under 
wing-coverts lemon-yellow ; under-surface of flight-quills and lower aspect of 
tail hair-brown with paler edges to the former. Collected on the Barron River, 
North Queensland, on the 15th of March, 1912. 
Nest. Composed of fine fibrous bark and grass bound together with cobweb. Outside 
dimensions If inches by 1 inch, inside 1| by half an inch deep. 
Eggs. Clutch, one. Ground-colour faint blue, dotted all over with purple or purplish-red. 
18 mm. to 19 by 14. 
Breeding-season. October to January. 
Gould’s account, as written him by Gilbert, is the best yet made : “ The 
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher gives utterance to many different notes, pouring forth 
at the dawn of day a strain much resembling that of some of the Petroicae, 
and like them remaining stationary for a long time while singing its agreeable 
melody. In the middle of the day, when the sun is nearly vertical, it leaves 
the trees and soars upward in circles, like the Skylark, until it arrives at so 
great a height as to be scarcely perceptible ; it then descends perpendicularly 
until it nearly reaches the trees, when it closes its wings and apparently falls 
upon the branch on which it alights. During the whole of this movement it 
pours forth a song, some parts of which are very soft and melodious, but quite 
different from that of the morning ; in the evening the song is again' varied, 
and then so much resembles the unconnected notes of the Gerygonce , that I 
have frequently been misled by it. The Microeca flavigaster is a very familiar 
species, inhabiting the trees and bushes close around the houses, and is little 
alarmed or disturbed at the approach of man. At times it is extremely 
pugnacious ; I have seen a pair attack a Crow and beat it until it was obliged 
to seek safety by flight, all the while calling out most lustily. Notwithstanding 
it is so abundant everywhere, and it must have been breeding during my 
stay here (at Port Essington) as is proved by my killing young birds apparently 
only a few days old, I did not succeed in finding the nest, and on enquiring 
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