RUFOUS-BREASTED THICKHEAD. 
at Yandanooka Ebano, their melodious voices filling the scrub-lands. They 
have one distinctive call, which they frequently use in the middle day. It 
resembles the sound of the word 4 Joey,’ and is repeated in a high, penetrating 
tone fully twenty times without taking breath.” 
Hall has printed J. P. Rogers’s notes from Derby : “ This species is very 
animated. A male is singing to his mate before me now (2/2/01), with tail and 
wings extended, feather on crown of head raised like a crest, and body-feathers 
ruffled outwards. The bird’s body seems to tremble through the power of the 
whistling note it is uttering — a note much more powerful than is usual. The 
male’s head was within one or two inches of his mate’s all the time. On 1/8/00 
I found one of a pair building a nest. Visiting this nest a few days later I 
noticed it was still unfinished, and many feathers of the builder strewn about 
it. A Hawk had probably eaten it.” 
Rogers later sent me some notes of nests and eggs, and wrote : “At Marngle 
Creek these birds were very common, while at Mungi very few were seen, no 
males in full plumage being noted at all. This is a common species in most 
parts of West Kimberley. I have seen them in large numbers from Broome 
to Derby and up the Fitzroy River.” From Melville Island he wrote : “ Nov. 
20, 1911. Cooper’s Camp. This is the common Thickhead of Melville Island, 
and is fairly numerous in the forests, often in the tall trees. Jan. 13, 1912. 
10 miles S.E. of Snake Bay. This species is fairly numerous in the paper-barks 
growing along the edges of the great swamp.” 
As I had no series from the mainland, the type locality of Gould’s P. falcata 
I was unable to diagnose the Melville Island race, but Zietz, when he received 
similar birds, separated them by comparison with South Australian (!) specimens 
from which, of course, they differed, but until typical falcata were examined 
his name was purely a synonym and valueless. 
In the Emu, Vol. XV., p. 159, Jan. 1916, Captain White, referring to a 
trip to the northern end of Flinders Ranges, under name Lewinornis rufiventris 
inornatus , wrote : “ These birds were fairly plentiful all through the ranges. 
The beautiful musical call of the male bird was often to be heard, and it seemed 
more full and liquid amid the rocky defiles. Upon comparing specimens it is 
found that this bird is a link between the coastal form and the Central Australian 
one. The latter bird I have described as L. r. maudece. I was surprised to 
find that this Flinders Range bird has the black band across the chest very 
well defined along the sides of the neck through the eye to the base of the bill, 
even more so than in the coastal form. The Central Australian bird which I 
have described as above has the ear-coverts and lores grey. The Flinders 
Range specimens have thick strong bills, like the coastal form. They agree 
with skins collected by me in the Gawler Ranges in 1912.” 
vol. vni. 
241 
