THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
itself among the thick scrub or brushwood. Its song very closely resembles 
that of the Petroicce .” 
Through Gould’s citation of the wrong names as synonyms, Ramsay 
utilised the prior Quoyian names in the wrong significance, and in this he 
was followed by the careless Gadow, who never attempted to read the 
descriptions, and this from an authoritative source was accepted as if it 
were correct, and caused much confusion in Australian literature until the 
Australian ornithologist, North, exposed Gadow’s ignorance. 
Mr. Tom Carter writes : 44 The White -breasted Shrike Robin appears to 
occur only in the extreme south-west corner of West Australia, and mostly in 
the coastal districts, not extending far inland, the greatest distance at which I 
have observed it from the coast being about fifty miles. It is very unobtrusive 
and retiring in its habits, keeping very much to the ground below dense scrub 
on the coastal hills, or alongside brooks more inland. Its alarm-note is 4 Whit- 
whit-churr-r,’ uttered several times.” 
Milligan has noted : 44 Mr. Campbell, in the account of his trip to Western 
Australia, speaks of these birds as if they were easy of observation. My 
experience is the reverse. In my first trip I only saw two birds, one of 
which I secured, and that only with the greatest difficulty, owing, first, to 
their inhabiting the dense thickets on the coastal brooks, and, secondly, 
their very shy disposition. The one I secured cost me hours of travail. When 
the bird was pressed hard in pursuit it uttered a series of most catlike calls, 
and at first I was not certain that the author of them was a bird. The 
notes, which were uttered with great distinctness and much vigour, resembled 
4 Kawhow, kawhow, whowah, whow.’ ” 
When Witmer Stone examined the Gouldian collection at Philadelphia, 
he noted that there were specimens from King George Sound labelled leuco- 
gastra, as were the types from Swan River, but that the former were larger. 
I recently separated the Warren River form as being lighter, so that 
variation is noticeable in a species with such a restricted range as this one. 
So we have : 
Quoyornis georgianus georgianus (Quoy and Gaimard). 
King George Sound. 
Quoyornis georgianus leucogaster (Gould). 
Perth. 
Quoyornis georgianus warreni (Mathews). 
Warren River. 
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