SHINING FLYCATCHER. 
a pleasing succession of sounds resembling twit-to-twite ; on the slightest dis- 
turbance it immediately descends again to the underwood and recommences 
its froglike note.” 
Macgillivray has recorded : “ The Shining Flycatcher is a bird of the muddy 
edges of the river, the mangroves, and tea-tree swamps, only rarely seen at any 
distance from the river bank in the scrubs. Several pairs were always to be 
noted on our going up or down the Claudie in our boat, running on the mud or 
flitting up into the trees or shrubs overhanging the water, the glossy black dress 
of the male contrasting with the rich rufous plumage of the female. The young 
males resemble the female in colouring. The first nest containing eggs was found 
on the 16th January. It was placed in a hanging loop of vine under sheltering 
leafage, 10 feet above the water. On the following day, when waiting in the 
boat for Mr. McLennan (who had gone ashore to get some Pigeons for the pot), 
a male bird of this species, moving about anxiously, directed my attention to 
a nest placed on a small branch of an overhanging tree at about 8 feet above 
high-tide mark. On Mr. McLennan’s return we examined the nest, and found 
it to contain one egg. The male bird shares the task of incubation with the 
female. The male always seemed to be more agitated than the female when the 
nest was approached. The call is a pretty, whistling one. The bird was common 
on the Archer River.” 
Mr. J. P. Rogers wrote me from Point Torment, North-west Australia : 
“ The male of this species has dark eyes, at least the ones I secured had almost 
black eyes. They are found here in the very densest mangrove scrub, and are 
usually seen creeping through the roots within a few inches of the ground. 
They are rare here, as I have only seen about eight or nine since I arrived. I 
saw this species on the Denham River, East Kimberley, m,bout 40 miles inland 
in September 1906.” 
From Melville Island he wrote : “ Oct. 7, 1911. A few of these birds have 
been seen in the mangroves. I find that the eyes of the male here are blackish- 
brown, the same as those at Point Torment. (Hall says the iris is scarlet. ) Jan. 
13, 1912. 10 miles S.E. of Snake Bay. This species is numerous in the dense 
growths along Jessie Creek, and around the edges of the great swamp, miles 
away from the mangroves. Jan. 26, 1912. Cooper’s Camp. A nest found 
to-day contained three naked black-skinned young. The nest was built in a 
mangrove growing in a scattered clump on the beach.” 
Hill recorded from North-west Australia : “ These beautiful and extremely 
shy birds were seen on the coast from Augustus Islands (lat. 15° 35' S.) north- 
wards, where they live entirely on the mud or amongst the low branches and 
roots in the thickest belts of mangroves. The warning note of the male bird is 
three clear and distinct whistles, which are answered by the female in a call that 
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