THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
minutes I could neither see them nor hear a sound of the various cries they 
had uttered before. They remained silent and concealed in the leafage of the 
trees after having hopped about before without the very least fear. The motive 
for their procedure I could not find out. When they appeared again at the 
nest, they stopped building and, gathering in a body, they marched away 
into the bush a minute after. This joint action is evidently an expression 
of a rather intimate social union. On another occasion I shot one of the 
company, upon which the others flew down to the ground and jumped round 
their comrade, crying loudly. In the middle of December there were two eggs 
in the nest at Mowla Downs.” 
Most of the northern and all the north-western forms have been recorded 
under the specific name rubeculus , some of the latest writers using later 
differential names, which I discuss hereafter, but the preceding note and 
most of the succeeding notes refer to the darker and smaller forms. 
Of the form he regarded as a distinct species under the name P. rubeculus 
Gould observed : “ This bird is rather numerously dispersed over the northern 
parts of Australia, where it takes the place of the P. temporalis of New South 
Wales, from v/hich it differs but little either in size or colouring ; its slightly 
smaller dimensions and the red hue of the breast are, however, characteristics 
by which it may at all times be distinguished from its prototvpe. On the 
Cobourg Peninsula it inhabits the open parts of the country, and when dis- 
turbed takes to the higher branches of the gums, first mounting upon one of 
the lower boughs, and then, by a succession of hops and leaps, ascending to 
the top. In its actions and economy it very closely assimilates to the other 
species of the genus, being, like them, a noisy and restless bird ; and feeding 
on insects, which are frequently sought for on the ground under the canopy 
of the larger trees.” 
Mr. J. P. Rogers wrote me : “Up to the 28th of May, 1911, several small 
flocks were seen at Marngle Creek, but they were not nearly so numerous as 
on the Fitzroy River where this species is very numerous. None were seen 
at Mungi Rockhole, but on the 7th of July about eight miles to the north-east a 
party of four were seen; these were within two or three miles of Jegurra Creek. 
Along this creek these birds are fairly numerous, in fact, are numerous 
in all parts of West Kimberley I have visited except Marngle Creek and 
Mungi Rockhole. Their large nests are a very noticeable feature where the 
birds are numerous, and no nests were seen at Mungi. On Melville Island 
at Coppers Camp on Nov. 20, 1911, these birds were fairly numerous in the 
forest country and had bred recently, as on Nov. 7 two young were secured. 
At the north side they were not so numerous on Jan. 13, 1912, but on the south 
side on Feb. 5 they were still numerous.” 
260 
