PILOT BIRD. 
kinds is feeding in close proximity to the female, though not quite in 
touch with her, a low whistling note as of encouragement or endearment 
is very often uttered. It is not a loud note but low and sweet, just 
discernible to the human ear, though loud enough no doubt for its 
purpose. The call 6 Guinea-a-week ’ is a misnomer. There are only three 
syllables in the call, which is much more like ‘ Eat-tu-weet ’ with the 
accent on the last syllable with a rising inflexion. Even this call has 
variations, as I found lately when spending hours in the solitude of their 
retreats making a special study of them. If I called in the same manner 
I would get replies for a while, and then the bird from its gloomy 
fastness would change the accent to the first note, evidently mistrusting the 
answering call. Being still dissatisfied with the result he would change again, 
and at times called so much like the shrill whistle of the Coachwhip as to elicit 
a reply from that beautiful bird. The note of the female Pilot Bird is a very 
distinctive one. When I first heard it I knew not whence it came, as it seemed 
just as much in the tree tops as the underwood. The nearest approach to it 
I get by pursing up the lips as if in saying ‘ Oh,’ and then giving one sudden 
blast of wind, making a sound like that produced by blowing in a door knob. 
This sound must not be prolonged longer than a second at the most, and the 
quicker it is cut off the better the result. There is nothing like meeting the 
bird at home and carefully practising the notes in company with the 
bird itself to obtain proficiency, be it the Coachwhip, Pilot, or any other 
bird, and I always go alone when in quest of such information, as anyone 
else only interferes with success. When the male Pilot Bird calls, the 
female does not invariably answer, as is generally the rule with the Coach- 
whip, and sometimes he calls several times before receivings a reply. Not 
so when she calls. No matter where he is, he immediately makes some sort 
of reply, as if he thinks it his bounden duty so to do. Very often his 
reply is beautifully soft and sweet, and seems the concentrated essence 
of love itself.” 
Mr. Edwin Ashby has written me : “ P. f. floccosus . — I found this bird 
in the deep gullies around Woodford in the Blue Mountains in New South 
Wales on the occasion of a brief visit on the 12th June, 1915. I was successful 
in shooting a pair during this visit, but on each occasion I only got a glimpse 
of the bird running amongst the stems of the bracken fern. Only once did 
I hear its characteristic call, so it is fairly certain that at that date the pairing 
season had not commenced. P. f. sandlandi . — I spent a week at Mount 
Dandenong, Victoria, in October 1914, and secured several skins. The 
birds had then paired and, I judged, were then nest building. I had 
many opportunities of watching their quick movements as they searched 
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