162 BIRD LIFE ON ISLAND AND SHORE 
The usual call of the Saddleback is a rather 
harsh “ che-che-u-che”’ ; not infrequently another 
syllable is added, “ che-che-u-che-che,” the last 
earnestly accentuated with something of entreaty 
in it. Sometimes near the nest a rapid series of 
notes was uttered, which to me sounded like the 
faint rattle of a distant castanet. Another cry was 
** che-we-we-we-we-we,” another ‘* woo-ete-woo- 
ete.”’ On one occasion, when the male had rather 
suddenly alighted on the edge of the kit nest, the 
hen gave vent to a sharp “ vt-vt-vt.” As the 
nesting season of the species had but barely 
opened when we arrived, it is probable that we 
heard during our residence all the calls of court- 
ship and parentage. I give them, not because any 
two persons would clothe them in like ortho- 
graphy, but rather to show the limited number 
in common use. By no stretch of imagination 
could any of them be termed “ flute-like’’; the 
“flute note” of the Saddleback was indeed as 
non-existent in these southern regions as that 
“organ note of surpassing richness” credited by 
_ Buller, and others with whom I have spoken on 
the subject, to the Orange-wattled Crow. The 
absence hereabouts of both these calls bears out 
what I have elsewhere surmised, that members 
of a species differ in their notes in different districts. 
Although the Saddleback is by no means a 
recluse, and although I may say I have a general 
