BABBLER. 
Mr. J. W. Mellor writes : “I saw these birds along the Coorong, towards 
Kingston in South Australia, in October 1897, and on the 9th I shot a pair for 
identification, as I had not previously seen them here, and I have not seen 
them beyond the south-eastern part of this State ; they are much larger than 
the common species (P. superciliosus) which is in evidence nearly everywhere, 
and on the occasion above noted were in company with these and other birds.” 
Chisholm has given a concrete example of the usefulness of this species, 
sometimes known as the Codlin-Moth Eater, writing : “As a practical 
illustration of its value I may mention a case that came under my notice 
recently. A grub, light green in colour, and varying in size from half an inch 
to an inch and a half long (probably the larva of the Agrotis moth) was 
attacking my rhubarb plants in great numbers, and bade fair to ruin the whole 
of the plants, when my friends the Babblers took part. The grubs did not 
come out during the day, but hid in the soft earth at the foot of the plant, 
only coming out to feed when the night fell. This fact did not deter the 
Babblers in the slightest degree. As soon as they located the grubs the birds 
arrived in dozens, and all day long were to be seen digging and pecking with 
great vigour all around the plants. In a very short time, where formerly 
there were hundreds, there was not a single grub pest left — vanquished by my 
inexpensive allies.” 
Cleland, recording his census of the birds of the Pilliga Scrub, New 
South Wales, wrote: “Uniformly distributed throughout the journey, 97 
being counted, giving an estimated minimum population of 6,422. The 
numbers seen in ‘ families ’ were as follows : Nine on one occasion, 8 on 
one, 7 on two, 6 on one, 5 on four, 4 on three, 3 on six, 2 on three, and 1 on 
four occasions.” 
Soderberg has written : “ This Babbler was common both at Mowla 
Downs, Derby, Meda, Beagle Bay (Dampier land), etc., but was absent at 
Sunday Island. The birds always lived in small colonies. The nests were 
built out in the leafage either alone or several in the same tree, chiefly in 
smaller trees. On the lltli of July I observed a rather peculiar habit in the 
bird which ought to be mentioned here : Five birds were busy building the 
same nest. At first I only saw two at the nest, but a minute after a third 
one arrived, carrying a lot of grass-stalks in its bill. Both the birds flew 
down to the ground, where they collected an equal amount of material. 
They returned to the nest, and now I saw all three jumping in and out of it, 
adding to it. Two more birds came and acted in much the same way. One 
of the birds was specially occupied in building on the outside of the nest. 
So they went on for about a quarter of an hour, after which they suddenly 
came together and then dispersed in different directions. Eor about ten 
259 
