Vo1 -™- ] CHISHOLM, Yeppoon-Byfield Excursion 227 
A Silvereye of whose species we could not be sure was seen 
about the edges of the scrub. Here, also, our southern friend 
the Shrike-Tit ( Falcunculus frontatus) was seen and heard, his 
note differing from that of the South Queensland bird as much 
as that, in turn, differs from the monotone of the Victorian bird; 
but in colour there is no difference. Whip-birds were occasion¬ 
ally heard, but their calls lacked real power; they seemed to be 
apologetic for being found so far away from many of their 
southern congeners. A few of the showy Grey Goshawks 
whistled above the scrub, and, of course, that decent black de¬ 
tective — as E. J. Banfield called the Drongo ( Chibia bracteata ) — 
was there to cackle a warning if the Goshawks misbehaved. It 
was good, too, to hear the clear “walk to work” of the Noisy Pitta 
( P . strepitans) a few times, and to speculate upon a queer whistle 
from another scrub bird, which later proved tq be a Mountain 
Thrush (Oreocincla ). 
Possibly, however, the most interesting birds of the locality 
(from the point of view of distribution) were the Jungle Fowl 
(Megapodius reinwardti) (tumulus), the Fairy Warbler, and 
a Bronze Cuckoo. The Jungle Fowl is the “Scrub-hen” of local 
people, a term that has reference to the Log-runner (Orthonyx) 
further south. Previously, the most southerly record for the 
Megapode was the neighbourhood of Mackay and on the Whit¬ 
sunday Islands, off Port Denison; so that the presence of the 
remarkable northern mound-builder at Byfield was a matter for 
rejoicing. Several nesting-mounds were found, one of these, 
on a mountain plateau, being fully eight feet deep and twenty 
feet in diameter. A tremendous amount of work had been done 
by the birds in sweeping debris together from the rather dry 
ground beneath a tangle of vines—after which they fully de¬ 
served the respite from tiresome brooding which was afforded 
them by their great natural incubator. Undoubtedly Byfield is 
the southern limit of the Jungle-Fowl; settlers say the bird is not 
found in scrubs a few miles south. But whence did it come, and 
whither is it going? — north or south?—these are nice puzzles. 
The Fairy Warbler and the Bronze Cuckoo have been men¬ 
tioned elsewhere. The larger Cuckoos were not seen nor heard 
at Byfield, the only ones identified being the Narrow-billed Bronze 
and the less-known Rufous-breasted species. A queer little call, 
strongly suggestive of a grass insect, and quite unlike that of any 
southern Cuckoo, led to the Rufous-breast being seen: it was 
identified as Lam prococcyx russatus by Mr. Alexander, who had 
seen a specimen calling outside his window when resident in 
Central Queensland. This is not the place to gq into details re¬ 
garding the perplexity that has long existed concerning northern 
Bronze Cuckoos, but it may be accepted as definite that L. rus¬ 
satus and L. minutillus do differ specifically, and that the former 
conies well down the east coast. Its egg resembles that of the 
Bronze Cuckoo (L. plagosus ), but as the latter was not heard at 
