THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
secured. She was in full black and white plumage. The nest was large, made 
of stout twigs and lined with spinfex and grass. The cavity was deep, and 
contained four eggs. I may mention that in full view of this nest in another 
tree, fifteen yards distant, was a nest containing eggs of Myzantha lutea. Sept. 4, 
1911. Secured a male bird, eating a lizard, at daybreak, on the Cardabia Creek. 
Sept. 5, 1911. Shot a breeding male, on Lyndon River. At both the latter 
occurrences the birds were heard singing in the small hours of the morning. 
It was full moon Sept. 8. I never saw this species in the vicinity of Carnarvon 
(port of Gascoyne River), they seem to like more inland places. They were 
quite common about Mullewa. These birds are valued as cage birds on account 
of their song.” 
Milligan has written from Yandanooke district, 260 miles north of Perth : 
“ This handsome Butcher-Bird was numerous in the * red ’ lands, but principally 
in the beautiful white-limbed ‘ flooded gums ’ ( Eucalyptus rostrata). His notes 
suggest the vastness of the Australian bush and continent. At dawn his clear 
cornet-like notes ring out far above the great chorus of bird-song. They are 
various, and some impossible of translation, but his dawn notes resemble the 
following ; ‘ Toll-de-lol-fah 1 (the last note long drawn out and of liquid 
sweetness) ; then twice and quickly repeated in a lower key ‘ You chatterbox ’ ; 
then in a higher key and with very full, rounded notes, and twice repeated 
‘ Sweet after forty.’ ” 
Whitlock, about the birds of the Pilbarra Goldfield, wrote : “ This species 
haunted similar country to the Long-billed Magpie, and, if anything, it was an 
earlier riser than the latter, its musical notes being heard often before the faintest 
sign of dawn. In its habits, too, it much resembles G. longirostris. It is usually 
found in isolated pairs ; and to secure nests it was necessary to traverse the 
rocky gullies of the ranges from end to end, where, frequently in some isolated 
and stunted gum, the neat and often inconspicuous nest was found.” 
Crossman, from Cumminin, 200 miles due east of Perth, wrote : “ This 
bird is fairly plentiful, and its magnificent notes may be often heard. Its 
alarm note is of a chattering kind, but does not seem so harsh as that of the 
common bird.” 
Hill recorded from Kimberley, North-west Australia : “ Fairly numerous. 
Examination of crop contents proved that these birds live almost entirely on 
caterpillars and locusts.” 
Mr. Edwin Ashby writes : “I have collected this bird on the goldfields 
and at Wat her oo in West Australia and had many opportunities of listening 
to their remarkable vocal powers. The run of liquid, rippling flute-like notes, 
produced by this bird is a masterpiece of vocal song, that includes the flute- 
like notes of the Gymnorhina with a special series of its own added. It is a 
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