BUFF-BELLIED SHRIKE -THRUSH. 
at a first glance it might be mistaken, but from which on comparison it will 
be found to differ in the following particulars : — the whole of the upper 
surface is pure grey instead of brown ; the abdomen and under tail-coverts 
are deep buff instead of greyish-white ; and the lores are much more distinctly 
marked with white. It is a native of Western Australia, where it is to be 
found in all thickly wooded places, feeding as much on the ground as upon 
the trees and scrubs. . . The stomach is muscular, and the food consists 
of insects, principally of the coleopterous order, and seeds/’ 
Milligan reported from the Margaret River district, south-west of 
South-west Australia : 44 C. rufiventris was fairly abundant on each visit,” 
and from the Stirling Ranges, south-east of South-west Australia : 
“ Numerous on good soils,” while H. E. Hill wrote from Brookton, 100 
miles S.E. of Perth : 44 Very abundant everywhere. Some individuals were 
very shy and difficult to approach, while others were the reverse. Have 
several distinct songs, one of which is loud and musical but hardly so 
melodious as that of C. harmonica of eastern fame.” 
Whitlock wrote from the East Murchison : 44 This Shrike-Thrush was 
generally distributed throughout the district, but was comparatively rare 
around the margins of Lake Violet. I did not have much luck with its nest 
and eggs, finding but three in all, two of which contained newly-hatched 
young. It was not till 1st November that I obtained a pair of eggs. I 
took these from the fork of a casuarina when hunting for a Bower-Bird’s nest 
some seven miles from my camp. The nest was remarkably deep, being 
built on a foundation of needles from the tree. The walls of the nest were 
constructed exclusively of strips of soft bark.” 
Mr. Tom Carter’s observations read : 44 The Buff-bellied Shrike-Thrush 
was common in all the gullies of the North-west Cape region, but did not 
seem to occur away from that vicinity, nor in the scrub of the inland flat 
country. The birds have a loud cheerful song, constantly uttered, throughout 
the year. One day I watched a male bird at the distance of a few feet, as 
it hopped about in the branches of a stunted tree. It was singing loudly, 
and at the same time was holding a lizard in its beak. Rather curiously, 
I never found their nests or eggs and often thought that they must build in 
crevices of the rocky gorges and cliffs, because there was no timber of any 
size, and had the birds built in the bushes (which were not numerous) 
either natives or myself ought to have found some nests but we never did, 
neither did I notice any old nests. Recently fledged young were observed 
on July 27.” 
44 Another subspecies is common throughout the south-west, down to 
the coast. They occur close to Albany town. About Broome Hill they 
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