Part 40

COLLURICINCLA BRUNNEA, Gould. Brown Colluricincla.

Colluricincla brunnea, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part VIII. p. 164.

Men-e-loö-roo, Aborigines of Port Essington.

This bird is abundantly dispersed over the Cobourg Peninsula, and is to be met with in all the forests in the immediate neighbourhood of Port Essington, in which distant locality it represents the Colluricincla harmonica of New South Wales, the Colluricincla Selbii of Van Diemen’s Land, and the Colluricincla rufiventris of Western Australia. As might be expected, its habits and manners are very similar to those of the other species of the genus, consequently the description of those of Colluricincla harmonica is equally descriptive of those of Colluricincla brunnea.

A nest of this bird found on the 2nd of February was built in the upper part of a hollow stump, and was outwardly formed of narrow strips of the bark of the Melaleuca and lined with fine twigs. The eggs are of a pearly bluish white, spotted and blotched with markings of olive-brown and grey, the latter colour appearing as if beneath the surface of the shell; their medium length is one inch and two lines by ten lines in breadth.

It is a larger and more robust species than either C. harmonica or C. rufiventris, the bill is shorter and much stouter, and the colouring is of a uniform light brown; even the primaries and tail-feathers are of the same hue.

All the upper surface pale brown; primaries and tail the same, but somewhat lighter; all the under surface brownish white, becoming almost pure white on the vent and under tail-coverts; thighs greyish brown; bill black; feet blackish brown.

The Plate represents the two sexes of the natural size.

COLLURICINCLA SELBII: Jard.

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

COLLURICINCLA SELBII, Jard. Selby’s Colluricincla.

Colluricincla Selbii, Jard. in Jard. and Selby’s Ill. Orn., vol. i. note to text of pl. 71.

—— rectirostris, Jard. and Selby’s Ill. Orn., vol. iv. pl. xxxi.

—— strigata, Swains. Anim. in Menag. &c., p. 283, female or young male.

Whistling Dick, of the Colonists of Van Diemen’s Land.

The Colluricincla Selbii is a native of, and a permanent resident in, Van Diemen’s Land and Flinders’ Island, over all parts of which it is very generally, but nowhere very abundantly, distributed; it appears to give a decided preference to the thick woods, wherein its presence may always be detected by its loud, clear, liquid and melodious whistle. It is distinguished from all the other members of the genus by the greater length of the bill, and by the female having a broad stripe of rust-red over the eye. It does not appear to confine itself to any particular part of the forest, for it may sometimes be observed on the low scrub near the ground, and at others on the topmost branches of the highest trees.

It feeds on caterpillars and insects of various kinds, which it often procures by tearing off the bark from the branches of the trees in the most dexterous manner with its powerful bill, and while thus employed frequently pours forth its remarkable note. In disposition it is lively and animated, confident and fearless, and might doubtless be easily tamed, when it would become a most interesting bird for the aviary.

The nest, although composed of coarse materials, is a remarkably neat structure, round, rather deep and cup-shaped, outwardly formed of strips of the rind of the stringy bark-tree and lined with a few grasses; it is about five inches in diameter and four in height, the interior being three inches and a half in breadth by two and a half in depth. The sites usually selected for the nest are the hollow open stump of a tree, a cleft in a rock, &c.

The sexes, which differ considerably from each other, may be thus described:—

The male has the general plumage dark slate-grey, deepening into brown on the back and wings, much paler on the under surface, and fading into white on the throat and breast; over the eye a faint stripe of greyish white; bill black; irides brown; feet light lead-colour.

The female has all the upper surface, wings and tail brown; upper tail-coverts slate-grey; over the eye a stripe of rust-red; under surface light grey tinged with brown on the throat and breast, and each feather with a stripe of dark brown down the centre; bill horn-colour at the base, black at the tip.

The young is similar to the female, but has the stripes of the under surface much broader and more conspicuous, the line over the eye of a deeper red, and the tail grey.

The Plate represents a male, a female, and a young bird of the natural size.

COLLURICINCLA PARVULA: Gould.

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

COLLURICINCLA PARVULA, Gould. Little Colluricincla.

Colluricincla parvula, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., May 27, 1845.

This species, to which I have given the name of parvula, from the circumstance of its being the smallest of the genus that has come under my notice, is a native of Port Essington and the neighbouring parts of the northern coast of Australia. Mr. Gilbert, to whose notes I must refer for all that is known about it, states that it is an inhabitant of the thickets; is an extremely shy bird, and is generally seen on or near the ground. Its note is a fine thrush-like tone, very clear, loud and melodious. The stomach is muscular, and the food consists of insects of various kinds, but principally of coleoptera. The nest and eggs were brought me by a native; they were taken from the hollow part of a tree about four feet from the ground; the former, which was too much injured to be preserved, was formed of small twigs and narrow strips of the bark of a Melaleuca. The eggs were two in number, of a beautiful pearly flesh-white, regularly spotted all over with dull reddish orange and umber-brown; like the eggs of the other species of the genus, they are also sprinkled over with bluish markings, which appear as if beneath the surface of the shell; their medium length is one inch, and breadth nine lines.