WHITE-BELLIED SHRIKE-TIT. 
be faintly described as ‘ Poo-oo-pee-e.’ Apparently Shortridge did not 
obtain any specimens when he was collecting in West Australia. They are 
fairly common in the open timber country about Broome Hill, where they 
were often seen feeding in the Jam trees (Acacia acuminata) and pulling off 
pieces of the rough thick bark in order to obtain the insects below'. They 
are very active in their movements, and are frequently seen clinging to the 
under side of a branch or twig. Nests were never discovered, but a brood 
of quite recently fledged young w r as seen with parent birds on Dec. 20, 1910. 
About July 13, 1912, this species was exceptionally numerous and noisy for 
a few days, as if a number of the birds was passing from another locality. 
These birds bite severely with their strong beaks if captured. One specimen 
u r as obtained with yellow centre of back, in place of green.” 
Whitlock wrote from the Stirling Ranges: “ Another bird mentioned 
by Mr. Milligan is the White-bellied Shrike-Tit (F. leucogaster). The nest 
of this species was one of the special objects of my quest. I found the species 
distinctly rare; but it Is a difficult bird to find, and, moreover, from its very 
quiet and unobtrusive manner, liable to be overlooked. In all I do not think 
I saw more than four pairs. I spent hours in v'atching them. Generally, 
they were in the tops of white gums, but once or twice I saw 7 a female in small 
acacia scrub. I often, at first glance, mistook Melithreptus whitlocki for this 
species. Both birds have the same habit of hanging from the slender twigs 
of eucalypts, which they search for food. With its powerful beak the Shrike- 
Tit strips off any loose bark it may find, and under which spiders spin their 
cocoons. When I observed this habit first I was in hopes the birds were 
collecting building material; but in all cases the strip of bark was carried to 
a convenient perch, and there the spider or its eggs w'as devoured. The call 
note is a single ‘ ko ’ or ‘ koo ’ very softly uttered.” 
A second trip added the following notes : “ Though by no means a rare 
bird, it is a species difficult to observe, owdng to its habit of haunting the 
tops of gum-trees. . . It is a very busy bird, however, and a most voracious 
feeder. . . It is nearly always the male that calls, and he, too, leads the 
way from tree to tree in the incessant search for food. Occasionally the 
male breaks into a little chattering song. . . Until late in the spring the 
young of the previous year remain in company with their parents; and if 
the members of the party are haunting low trees it is possible to distinguish 
them by the feathers of the head being much less glossy, or in places dull, 
and by the looser development of the crest. The Shrike-Tit is a fearless little 
bird, and will search for food within a few feet of the observer. Both sexes 
are indefatigable hunters, searching the foliage and the bark of the various 
gum-trees. Occasionally I have seen them hunting in acacia scrub for larvse, 
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