THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA, 
have not seen one since the spring of 1907. It frequents open forests and 
‘ ringbarked ’ country, and is invariably met with in pairs. Their clear 
flute-like song is most melodious, usually uttered in the early morn, and I 
know of few birds whose notes penetrate through the forests to such a distance 
as the present species, and still fewer I would rather listen to. It is an excep- 
tionally shy bird, seldom allowing of a close approach. The nest is a bowl- 
shaped structure, irregularly formed of twigs, lined with roots and dry grass. 
The clutch is just as often three as four. They are exceptionally fond of raw 
meat, and a pair of birds will often take up their abode about a homestead, 
and will spend most of their time at the killing yard, and if there is an opening 
large enough for them to get into the meat house, they are sure to find it, and 
V in to pick scraps of meat and fat from the chopping 
block.” 
W. G. and R. C. Harvey have written : “ Judging by our observations 
all over the district, and from reliable information gleaned from others, this 
fine songster is now a rare bird in the Mackay district. The disastrous cyclone 
of January, 1918, and the floods which accompanied it, combined to almost 
exterminate the Butcher-Birds. How bold these birds were before the cyclone 
may be gathered from the fact that the one depicted in the photograph would 
follow us for hundreds of yards during the breeding season for the sake of 
persecuting our dog which had, in some unaccountable way, incurred its dis- 
pleasure. The cyclone experience has so humbled the few survivors that they 
are now as correspondingly shy and retiring as once they were audacious. 
The two sole survivors in our locality are seldom seen or heard now, and are 
certainly more esteemed on that account, for distance lends enchantment to 
more things than a view.” 
Gould described the North-western bird as a new species under the name 
Cr adieus picatus , later writing. “ This is in every respect a miniature repre- 
sentative of the Cracticus nigrogularis of New South Wales ; it must, however, 
be regarded as a distinct species, for its much more diminutive size will warrant 
such a conclusion by every ornithologist who compares them. Gilbert, who 
found it at Port Essington in considerable abundance, states that it is an 
extremely shy and wary bird, inhabiting the most secluded parts of the forest, 
and is as frequently seen searching for its food on the ground as among the 
topmost branches of the highest trees. In its habits, manners, mode of flight, 
and in its loud, discordant, organ-pipe-like voice, it closely resembles the other 
members of the genus. It is usually seen in pairs, or in small families of four 
or five. Its nest is built of sticks in the upright fork of a thickly foliaged tree, 
at about thirty or forty feet from the ground. The stomach is muscular, and 
the food consists of insects of various kinds, but principally of coleoptera.” 
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