Part 33

The figures are of the natural size.

CAMPEPHAGA JARDINII.

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

CAMPEPHAGA JARDINII. Jardine’s Campephaga.

Graucalus tenuirostris, Jard. and Selb. Ill. Orn., vol. ii. pl. 114.

Ceblepyris Jardinii, Rüpp. Mon. in Orn. Misc. 1839, p. 30.

The only parts of Australia wherein this species has been observed are Moreton Bay and the Liverpool Range in New South Wales, and the neighbourhood of Port Essington in the Cobourg Peninsula on the north coast: it is likely that it ranges over the whole of the intermediate country, but this can only be determined by future research. The great difference in the colouring of the sexes, its smaller size and more attenuated bill, point out most clearly that it is a member of the genus Campephaga, and not of Graucalus, to which it was first assigned. It is far less common in New South Wales than it is at Port Essington, where Mr. Gilbert collected the following notes respecting it:—

“This bird is extremely shy and retiring in its habits. I have never seen it flying about the low shrubs like the other species of the genus, nor at any time near the ground; on the contrary, it always inhabits the topmost branches of the loftiest and most thickly-foliaged trees growing in the immediate vicinity of swamps, or the mangroves. Its note too is altogether different from that of any other species of the genus, being a harsh, grating, buzzing tone, repeated rather rapidly about a dozen times in succession, followed by a lengthened interval. It appears to be a solitary species, as I never saw more than one at a time.”

The stomach is muscular, and the food consists of insects of all kinds, but principally coleoptera.

The adult male has the lores black; all the upper and under surface, wing-coverts, edges of the primaries and secondaries, basal three-fourths of the two central and the tips of the outer tail-feathers deep blue-grey; primaries, secondaries and the other parts of the tail black; irides dark brown; bill blackish brown; legs and feet very dark greenish grey.

The female has the whole of the upper surface, wings and tail brown, the two latter edged with buff; line over the eye and all the under surface buff, the feathers of the side of the neck, the breast and the flanks with an arrow-head-shaped mark of brown in the centre.

The young male is bluish brown above; wings and tail as in the female; under surface buff, crossed with numerous transverse narrow irregular bars of black.

The figures represent an adult and a young male of the natural size.

CAMPEPHAGA KARU.

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

CAMPEPHAGA KARU. Northern Campephaga.

Lanius Karu, Less. Zool. de la Coq., pl. 12.

Notodela Karu, Less. Traité d’Orn., p. 374.

Mr. Gilbert, who met with this species at Port Essington on the northern coast of Australia, states that it is a very shy and timid bird, that it is generally seen creeping about in pairs among the thickets and clumps of mangroves, that its note is a somewhat shrill piping call, that its stomach is tolerably muscular, and that it feeds upon insects of various kinds: this, I regret to say, is all that is known respecting it.

In referring this species to the Lanius Karu of Lesson, I am rather influenced by a desire not to add to the number of useless synonyms, than from any positive conviction of their being identical; for although, having only M. Lesson’s figure to refer to, I am unable to detect any difference of sufficient importance to be considered specific, little doubt exists in my mind that the two birds are really distinct, and that future research will verify the propriety of this opinion.

The male has the head, all the upper surface, wings and tail black; the wing-coverts largely tipped, primaries narrowly edged and tipped, secondaries broadly margined on their external webs, rump and upper tail-coverts slightly, the external tail-feather largely, and the next on each side slightly tipped with white; line from the nostrils over each eye to the occiput buffy white; under surface pale grey, crossed on the breast and flanks with narrow irregular bars of slaty black, and washed with fulvous, gradually increasing in intensity until on the vent and under tail-coverts it becomes of a deep tawny buff; irides dark brown; bill black; feet blackish grey externally, bluish grey internally; light mealy ashy grey between the scales and inside the feet.

The female differs in being somewhat smaller than the male; in having the upper surface and tail brown, instead of black; the upper tail-coverts tipped with buff instead of white, and the barrings of the under surface broader, darker and more distinct.

The Plate represents the two sexes of the natural size.

CAMPEPHAGA LEUCOMELA: Vig. & Horsf.

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

CAMPEPHAGA LEUCOMELA, Vig. and Horsf. Black and White Campephaga.

Campephaga leucomela, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 215.

This species, which frequents the brushes of the eastern parts of New South Wales between the river Hunter and Moreton Bay, differs from the Campephaga Karu in its much greater size, in the rufous colouring of the lower part of the abdomen and under tail-coverts, in the more uniform grey colouring of the breast, and in the barring of this part being much less conspicuous. I have had examples of this species in my collection for many years, but was not fortunate enough to see it alive during my visit to Australia. Mr. Strange has also sent me a pair which he had shot in the scrubs on the banks of the Clarence. Its nest and eggs, and any information of its habits, are desiderata to me.