GREY JUMPER. 
Captain S. A. White writes : Have often met with this strange bird in 
Queensland and New South Wales; it moves about in columns of four or five 
to twenty birds ; they are very much like the Babbler in habits and movements, 
making a continuous call, and they seem to be always on the move. Both birds 
assist in building the mud nest. Food consists of minute seeds, etc. Nesting 
time September to November. Clutch three to four eggs. When some 20 miles 
from Daly Waters, Northern Territory, in 1922, upon the overland trip to 
Danvin, I saw several very large communities of this bird and took specimens ; 
they are larger and of a whitish-bluish tinge. These birds Avere in a low sub¬ 
tropical vegetation, at times hopping upon the ground, then climbing all over 
the big bean tree. I have not seen that this bird has been previously 
recorded for the Northern Territory. 
Bemey has written from the Richmond district. North Queensland: “I 
saw a good many of these noisy birds in April, 1904, about the scrubby country 
on the road leading from Cambridge Downs to Saxby. This is the only time 
I have come across them here, the district being mostly unsuited to them.” 
MacgiUivray has recorded: “ First met with near Granada, on the Leich¬ 
hardt River, where a flock of about thirty was disturbed and a specimen obtained. 
They were common thence onwards. $ Irides brown, with yellow outer ring, 
bill and legs black. Gizzard contained grasshoppers, seeds and coarse sand.” 
Cleland in his Ceiisits of the Birds of the PilUga Scrub, New South Wales, 
has written: “These ‘lousy birds,’ as they are popularly called, from the 
presence of Mallophaga, were amongst the most numerous and universally 
distributed of the species met with. Companies were often seen in the heart 
of the scrub, apparently often not near water. Altogether, 194 were counted, 
which, on the previous estimation, gives a minimum population for the scrub 
of 12,804. From my notes I find that the numbers of birds found together in 
‘ families ’ during the trip Avere as follows : fourteen on one occasion, nine on 
three occasions, eight on three, seven on three, six on five, five on five, four on 
five, three on five, two on six, and one on six occasions. Possibly in some 
instances, as Avhen fourteen were seen, two ‘ families ’ may have been met 
with near each other, and probably in many cases not all of the members of 
the ‘family’ were counted. It would be interesting to know the sex and age of 
the members of a ‘ family,’ and also AA'hether ‘ families ’ ever amalgamate. 
In 1912 I separated the Queensland bird as being darker, but I lumped 
in 1913 ; I now admit tliree subspecies. 
Struthidea cinerea cinerea Gould. 
New South Wales. 
Struthidea cinerea swainsoni Mathews. 
Queensland. 
Struthidea cinerea dalyi Mathews. 
Northern Territory. 
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