Part 32

This species inhabits the neighbourhood of Port Essington, where it is a very familiar bird, constantly flitting about the branches overhanging the houses of the settlement. In its general habits, manners and note it closely assimilates to the Graucalus melanops. It is abundant in every part of the Cobourg Peninsula, and is generally seen in small families of from four to ten or twelve in number.

The whiteness of the under surface serves to distinguish this from all the other species of the genus yet discovered in Australia.

The stomach is muscular, and the food consists of insects of various genera, which are generally taken from off the leafy branches of the highest trees.

The sexes assimilate very closely in colouring, and only differ in the females and young males having the lores of a dull brown instead of black.

Lores black; crown of the head and all the upper surface dark grey; wings and tail black; chin, under surface of the wings, abdomen and under tail-coverts white; breast pale greyish white; irides brownish black; bill blackish brown; legs and feet black; insides of the feet and spaces between the scales of the tarsi mealy grey.

The figures are of the natural size.

GRAUCALUS SWAINSONII: Gould.

J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith. Hullmandel & Walton Imp. ]

GRAUCALUS SWAINSONII. Swainson’s Graucalus.

Ceblepyris lineatus, Swains. in Zool. Journ., vol. i. p. 466.

Graucalus Swainsonii, Gould in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part IV.

This species of Graucalus, which is distinguished from all the other Australian members of the genus by the beautiful barring of the breast, was originally described by Mr. Swainson under the appellation of lineatus; but that term having been previously applied to another species of the group, it became necessary to change it; and in substituting that of Swainsonii, I was desirous of paying a just tribute to the talents of a gentleman who has laboured most zealously in the cause of natural science, and whose researches and writings are so well known to all ornithologists.

Examples of this species occur in almost every collection sent from Moreton Bay; I regret to add that it is one of the few birds I had no opportunities of observing in a state of nature, and that nothing is at present known of its habits and economy. Judging from the specimens I have examined, I believe that the sexes are alike in plumage.

Lores black; head, all the upper surface, wing-coverts, throat and breast grey; primaries and secondaries black; the former narrowly, and the latter broadly margined on their external edges with grey; tail grey at the base, black for the remainder of its length; abdomen, under surface of the shoulder, and under tail-coverts white, crossed by numerous decided narrow bars of black; bill and feet black.

The figures are of the natural size.

PTEROPODOCYS PHASIANELLUS: Gould.

J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith. Hullmandel & Walton Imp. ]

PTEROPODOCYS PHASIANELLA. Ground Graucalus.

Graucalus Phasianellus, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part VIII. p. 142.

Ceblepyris maxima, Rupp. Mon. in Mus. Senckenbergianum, 1839, p. 28. taf. iii.

Goo-rä-ling, Aborigines of York, Western Australia.

The rarity of this species in our collections is sufficient evidence that it is a bird inhabiting the interior of the country, and that its native localities have been seldom visited by the explorer; hence it was a source of no ordinary gratification to me when I first encountered it on the plains bordering the River Namoi in New South Wales, and perceived that no very lengthened study of its habits and mode of life was requisite to ascertain that its structure is as beautifully adapted for terrestrial progression and for a residence on the ground, as the structure of the other Graucali fits them to inhabit the branches of the trees; more beautiful modifications of form in fact can scarcely be seen than occur among the members of this group, which now comprehends a considerable number of species; the present bird, however, is the only terrestrial one that has yet come under my notice, either from Australia or the great nursery of these birds—India and the Indian islands. The lengthened form of the tarsi and tail and the narrow form of the bill are the most striking of the structural differences between Pteropodocys and Graucalus, and are so apparent that they must be perceptible at a single glance to all who will examine them. Plains and open glades skirted by belts of high trees are the localities in which I generally met with this bird either in pairs or small parties of four or five; in the latter case they were probably the brood of the year, as they usually consisted of both immature and adult birds.

Its powers of progression on the ground are considerable, and are only equalled by those of flight; when disturbed it flies across the plain to the belts of lofty trees, among the branches of which it appears to be quite as much at ease as upon the ground. During flight the white mark on the rump is very conspicuous, and may be seen at a considerable distance.

The food consists of insects and seeds of various kinds.

That its range extends over the whole of the interior of Australia is more than probable, as I have lately received a specimen from Swan River, in which part of the country it doubtless inhabits localities similar to those it frequents on the east coast.

Of its nidification I regret to say nothing is at present known.

The sexes, which exhibit no external differences, may be thus described:—

Head, neck, chest and back delicate grey, becoming darker on the ear-coverts; rump and abdomen white, crossed by narrow irregular bars of black; under tail-coverts white; wings and tail black, the latter having the tips of the outer and the basal portion of all the feathers white; bill and feet black, tinged with olive; irides butty white.