THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
may be likened to the creaking of a door. The nests are built from 4 to 6 feet 
above water level, of rough pieces of bark, closely woven together and lined with 
fine pieces of bark, twigs, and small dead leaves, or with rootlets. Eggs were 
taken from 5/1/10 to 20/3/3 (sic). From one nest, I took a set of eggs on 
18/2/10 of the usual type, and on 20/3/10 a second set of pure white eggs. The 
irides of all male birds examined by me were umber, and not red (Hall, p. 19). 
Their food consists principally of minute shells, crabs, and a small species of 
black ant.” 
All the Australian birds of this form were named Piezorhynchus nitidus 
until I separated the Cooktown form as P. nitidus wardelli as “ having a shorter 
and wider bill, the general colour deeper, and the measurements slightly 
larger.” 
A little later Mr. Campbell recorded the Cape York form as Piezorhynchus 
alecto, accepting the differential characters given in the Catalogue of the Birds 
in the British Museum as valid between nitidus and alecto, and having no 
extra-limital specimens for actual comparison. These read : “ The Australian 
bird (P . nitidus) differs from P. alecto in possessing a much longer and thinner 
bill, while the females are thus contrasted — alecto, mantle light chestnut, like 
the back ; nitidus , mantle dark ashy, shaded with the purple colour of the 
head, and separating the latter from the back, which is dark chestnut.” 
Simultaneously I separated the Melville Island form as “having a much 
wider, heavier bill ” and then the North-west form as “ having a much 
narrower bill, and in being smaller.” 
Upon receipt of Cape York birds I concluded that they differed “from 
typical birds in having a narrower bill, while the wing is longer.” 
Hartert had previously determined the Australian form as only sub- 
speeifically separable from a New Guinea species, which he recognised as 
chalybeocephalus, and eliminating the generic term Piezorhynchus, called it 
Monarcha chalyheocephalus nitidus. 
When my “Reference List” was prepared I followed this lead, but was 
able to correct the specific name, as alecto was the older name for the extra- 
limital form. Unfortunately when Ogilvie-Grant wrote up his report upon 
New Guinea birds (Ibis, Jubilee Supplement No. 2) he continued the incorrect 
usage, and, upon my pointing his error out, he replied with an absurd quibble 
without attention to facts ; the facts were as stated by me, but recently 
Rothschild and Hartert have corrected the locality “ Celebes ” as given by 
Temminck, stating that this species does not occur at Celebes, and therefore 
selected as type locality Ternate, which is here accepted. At the same time 
they complained that, in naming the Cape York form, I did not make comparison 
with the other Australian races. Apparently they omitted, once more, to make 
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