THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
when in season, afford an abundant supply. So rarely does it take insects 
that I do not recollect ever finding any remains in the stomachs of those specimens 
I dissected. In its disposition it is neither a shy nor a wary bird, little caution 
being required to approach it, either when feeding or while quietly perched 
upon the lofty branches of the trees. It is at such times that its loud, harsh 
and extraordmary note is heard; a note which differs so much from that of 
all other birds, that having been once heard it can never be mistaken hi 
comparmg it to the nightly concerts of the domestic cat, I conceive that I 
am conveying to my readers a more perfect idea of the note of this species than 
could be given by pages of description. This concert is performed either by 
a pair or several individuals, and nothing more is required than for the hearer 
to shut his eyes to the neighbouring fohage to fancy himself surrounded by 
London grimalkins of house-top celebrity. While in the district in which this 
bird is foimd, my attention was directed to the acquisition of aU. the information 
I could obtain respectmg its habits, as I consider it very probable that it might 
construct a bower similar to that of the Satin-Bird, but I could not satisfy 
myself that it does, nor could I discover its nest, or the situation in which it 
breeds ; it is doubtless, however, among the branches of the trees of the forest 
in which it lives.” 
hir. Edwdn Ashby has written me: “ These birds are very common in 
the Blackall Ranges, Queensland. Its strange, mewing-like note was heard 
continually in the thick tropical brush or scrub, but the birds were not easy 
to see, their green plumage harmonizing vith the rich green foliage of the trees.” 
Campbell has unritten : “ During my visit (1891) to the ‘ Big Scrub’ of 
the Richmond River district, the peculiar voice of this bird was heard everj'- 
where throughout the locaUty. The cry is a real cat-like ‘ mew-mew,’ with 
a strong accent on the second ‘ mew,’ as if someone had trodden on a cat’s 
tail. I happened to observe a pair of birds ‘ caterwauling ’ about a nest, 
which was situated some fifteen feet from the ground, in a small tree on the 
bank of Pearce’s Creek. I climbed to the nest, only to be disappointed 
in finding a pair of young, clothed in down as black as ink, instead of 
a set of shapely, cream-coloured eggs.” 
Capt. S. A. White vuites: “ Those who enter the great scrubs of New 
South Wales and Queensland for the first time are puzzled by the strange 
calls of this bird, wliich go eclioing tlirough the forest; it is a strange cry, 
and more like that of a quadruped than a bird. Very wary and generally 
keep to the top of the great forest trees, living upon the fruits wliich abound 
upon vines or trees at all times of the year in those great tropical scnibs. 
Jackson has recently written from the Macpherson Range, South Queens¬ 
land : Cat-Birds were plentiful, and did not caU much until about the end 
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