The Bush-canary 
77 
of from four to five quavers a second. Some of the notes are 
whistles, some warbles, those of (c) have the sound of being 
slurred. 
Whilst this is a song, it is not an art song; that is, it can 
hardly be said to have a motif. It is never, as far as can be 
observed, sung twice the same; and whilst many birds may be 
singing at one time, all are singing different songs, though 
built up of the same phrases. The cry of (23) is probably that 
of a young bird; the note is vibrato, at first slow, in semi¬ 
quavers, then rapidly faster until it throbs like a cricket’s 
chir, and broken as indicated. The notes of (24), heard occa¬ 
sionally following (2), are very like the cry of the parrakeet; 
they are uttered by themselves at times, lasting half a second. 
As noted earlier, the white-head almost certainly mimics the 
robin; it is possible, in view of (14) and (17) that it mimics 
the fan tail, and in view of (24) the parrakeet; its deeper notes, 
too, are often like those of the bell-bird, with which it at times 
associates. Again, it possibly is not a case of mimicry at all; 
but a few of the notes of this voluble companionable bird are 
like some of the notes of the birds named. 
The bush-canary.— Head, breast, and abdomen, yellow; 
back, vellowish-brown; tail, yellowish-olivaceous. Wing- 
feathers brown, mostly edged with yellowish-brown. Eye, 
black. The sexes are alike; the young are much duller in 
colour. Bill and feet black. Total length 6f in., of which the 
tail is 2f in. 
Eggs .—Three or four; uniform reddish-cream, minutely and 
faintly freckled all over with a darker tint. 
Nest .—Similar to that of white-head. 
Travers says, as noted above, that the song of the bush¬ 
canary is the same as that of the white-head. I have seen the 
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