THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Adult male. General colour of the upper-surface dark slate-grey including the top of the 
head, hind-neck, entire hack, upper tail-coverts and wings ; inner webs of flight- 
quills dark brown with paler margins ; tail black, the three lateral feathers on each 
side tipped with white which increases in extent towards the outermost where it 
occupies about one-third the length of the feather ; rictal bristles black ; fore-part 
of head, sides of face, chin, and throat velvety-black ; cheeks, sides of neck, fore- 
neck, breast, and sides of body orange-buff ; middle of abdomen, vent and under 
tail-coverts white ; thighs grey ; axillaries and under wing-coverts pale buff 
inclining to white on the latter ; under-surface of quills dark brown ; lower aspect 
of tail blackish with white tips to the outer feathers ; eyes brown, feet black, 
bill dark blue. Total length 162 mm. ; culmen 11, wing 77, tail 70, tarsus 18. 
Figured. Collected at Inkennan Spring Ranges, Queensland, in September 1907. 
Adult female. Crown of head, hind-neck, entire back, and wings dark slate-grey ; flight- 
quills dark brown with whitish margins ; tail black with a slight trace of obsolete 
cross-bars, and white tips to the three outer feathers ; rictal bristles black ; fore- 
part of head, sides of face, chin and throat velvety-black ; cheeks, sides of neck, 
and fore-neck orange-buff ; breast, abdomen, sides of body, under tail-coverts, 
axillaries, and under wing-coverts white ; thighs grey ; under-surface of flight- 
quills brown ; lower aspect of tail blackish-brown with white tips to the outer 
feathers. Eyes black, feet blue-black, bill grey. Total length 138 mm. ; wing 
70, tail 62. Figured. Collected at the Cable Station, Cape York, North Queens- 
land, on the 22nd of January, 1913. 
Immature. “ Resemble the adults, but have the head uniform with the back, the fore-head 
washed with rufous and the throat grey.” (North.) 
Nest. Cup-shaped. Composed of fine strips of bark, tied together with spider’s web ; on 
the outside decorated with cocoons and moss. Lined with black-coloured fine 
rootlets. Outside dimensions 2\ to 3f inches by 2f to 2f deep. Inside 2 by If deep. 
Eggs. Clutch, two. Dull white. Spotted (more on the larger end) with purple or reddish- 
brown spots. 21-22 mm. by 15-16. 
Breeding-season. October to January. 
Little seems to have been written regarding the habits of this bird, though 
there is quite an appreciable amount of literature in connection with the 
supposed “ species.” 
Mr. J. W. Mellor has written me : “I have noted this species in New South 
Wales in all the subtropical scrubs visited. I found it fairly plentiful in the 
Tweed River scrubs, and about Mt. Warning at the head-waters of this river, 
where it is always found in pairs. I also saw it in the Richmond and Clarence 
River scrubs and about Mount Lindsay in the Great Dividing Range between 
New South Wales and Queensland, and also in the Blackall Ranges and at Mount 
Tambourine in Queensland. It is a pretty little Flycatcher, and delights to dwell 
in the secluded bowers of the thickly-grown parts of the scrub ; its call is a low 
and plaintive whistle ; it is confined to the scrubs, where it flies with a noiseless 
and easy motion from twig to twig, and lives solely on insects, caterpillars, etc. 0 ’ 
Macgillivray wrote : “ The White-bellied Flycatcher (the northern form of 
P. gouldi) is fairly common at Cape York in a good season. It is always found in 
the scrub, feeding from low down to the upper branches of the vegetation. It 
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