YELLOW-BELLIED SHRIKE-TIT. 
{Eucalyptus rostratus and leucoxylon), and quicldy seizing the insects that 
shelter behind these loose pieces of bark. This explains the development 
of the exceptionally strong beak. I have watched them clearing scale off a 
small tree and generally working over the twigs of the saplings, but more 
often it is searching under the bark of larger timber for its food. The crest 
is erected from time to time and a low whistling note (sometimes mistaken 
for a boy’s whistle) emitted fairly often. As the young keep with their 
parents for a long time the birds are seen usually in a small flock. I believe 
the oft repeated low whistle is the call note to keep the birds in touch with 
one another. Besides this note a whirring or chattering note is very charac¬ 
teristic of the species. Their habit of placing their nest in twigs or higher 
branches of a rather lofty tree makes their eggs somewhat rare in collections. 
All the nests I have seen have had numerous twigs surrounding the nest bitten 
off. This habit certainly gives the sitting bird a less impeded outlook, but 
also makes the nest more conspicuous to any bird of prey flying overhead. 
I cannot suggest any reasonable explanation accounting for this peculiar 
habit, possibly it is a survival of a habit once serving a useful purpose but 
no longer doing so.” 
When Campbell described F. whitei from Napier Broome Bay, North¬ 
west Australia, Hill published a field note reading : “ My first introduction 
to this species was on 31/12/09, when I saw a pair near the Mission Station. 
Feeling certain that they were of a new species, I devoted a good deal of time 
during the next month to watching their movements, but at the outset it 
was evident that they did not intend nesting, for each time I saw them they 
were travelling slowly towards the south-east and getting further away from 
my camp, so I decided to shoot them on the first opportunity—which did 
not occur until 5/3/10, when I secured both birds. I saw no more until 9/6 10, 
when I noticed another pah- in some lightly timbered country, 11 miles south¬ 
east of Napier Broome Bay. This pair appeared to be nesting, but as our 
party was returning after a long trip on short rations, a brief search only could 
be made, which failed to reveal the nest. In their habits they closely resemble 
F. frontatus, though they are more difficult to locate on account of their 
subdued notes. Measurements: 
<? Total length 154, wing 78, tarsus 22, bill 16-5, tail 62 mm. 
$ 155 76 20 15 59 
As noted hereafter the male was in immature plumage. 
Barnard recorded : “ This bird was rare on the McArthur, and only a 
few pairs were seen. These were always on the dry, stringy-bark ridges, 
where they were hunting among the dead leaves and dry tree-stems for insects. 
Two nests were found in the forks of the topmost branches of tall, stringy- 
VOL. XL 
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