Part 48

The adult has all the upper surface and wings pale brown; wing-coverts slightly tipped with white, and a wash of white on the margins of the tertiaries and tips of the upper tail-coverts; tail dark brown, the external feather white, and the next on each side with a large spot of white on the inner web at the tip; all the under surface pale brownish white, fading into nearly pure white on the chin and abdomen; bill, irides and feet brown.

The figures represent the two sexes of the size of life.

MICRŒCA FLAVIGASTER: Gould.

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

MICRŒCA FLAVIGASTER, Gould. Yellow-bellied Micrœca.

Micrœca flavigaster, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part X. p. 132.

Brown Flycatcher, Residents at Port Essington.

This little Flycatcher, which is a native of the northern portions of Australia, is met with in the neighbourhood of Port Essington in every variety of situation, and is particularly abundant on all the islands in Van Diemen’s Gulf. “Its habits and manners,” says Mr. Gilbert, “assimilate more nearly to those of the Petroicæ than to those of any other group. It gives utterance to many different notes, pouring forth at the dawn of day a strain much resembling that of some of the Petroicæ, and like them remaining stationary for a long time while giving utterance to its very pretty and agreeable melody. In the middle of the day, when the sun is nearly vertical, it leaves the trees and soars upward in regular circles, like the Skylark, until it arrives at so great a height as to be scarcely perceptible; it then descends perpendicularly until it nearly reaches the trees, when it closes its wings and apparently falls upon the branch on which it alights. During the whole of this movement it pours forth a song, some parts of which are very soft and melodious, but quite different from that of the morning; in the evening its song is again varied, and then so much resembles the unconnected notes of the Gerygones, that I have frequently been misled by it. The Micrœca flavigaster is a very familiar species, inhabiting the trees and bushes close around the houses, and is little alarmed or disturbed at the approach of man. At times it is extremely pugnacious; I have seen a pair attack a crow and beat it until it was obliged to seek safety by flight, all the while calling out most lustily. Notwithstanding it is so abundant everywhere, and it must have been breeding during my stay here, as is proved by my killing young birds apparently only a few days old, I did not succeed in finding the nest; and on inquiring of the natives, they could give me no information whatever respecting it or the period of incubation.”

The sexes do not differ in colour or size.

The stomach is tolerably muscular, and the food consists of insects of various kinds.

All the upper surface brownish olive; wings and tail brown, margined with paler brown; throat white; all the under surface yellow; irides blackish brown; feet blackish grey.

The figures are of the natural size.

MONARCHA CARINATA.

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

MONARCHA CARINATA. Carinated Flycatcher.

Muscipeta carinata, Swains. Zool. Ill., 1st ser., pl. 147.

Drymophila carinata, Temm. Pl. Col. 418. f. 2.

Monarcha carinata, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 255.—Gould in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part II.

This is a migratory bird in New South Wales, arriving in spring and departing before winter. It gives a decided preference to thick brushy forests, such as those at Illawarra and other similar districts extending from the Hunter to Moreton Bay. It is also equally abundant in the thick brushes which clothe the sloping mountains of the interior. During the spring or pairing time it becomes very animated, and is continually flying about and beneath the branches of the trees; it does not capture insects, like the true Flycatchers, on the wing, but obtains them while hopping about from branch to branch, after the manner of the Pachycephalæ. It has a rather loud whistling note, which being often repeated tends considerably to enliven the woods in which it dwells.

I dissected many examples in the bright plumage, all of which proved to be males, yet I could not fully satisfy myself whether the upper bird in the Plate is a female, a young bird, or a distinct species; I believe, however, that it will prove to be the female.

The Monarcha carinata does not inhabit Van Diemen’s Land or South Australia; its great nursery is evidently the south-eastern portion of the country: a distinct but nearly-allied species inhabits the north coast, of which I have specimens in my collection from the neighbourhood of Cape York.

Forehead, lores and throat jet-black; all the upper surface grey; wings and tail brown; sides of the neck and the chest light grey; abdomen and under tail-coverts rufous; bill beautiful light blue-grey, the tip paler than the base; legs bluish lead-colour; irides black; inside of the mouth greyish blue.

In all probability, the females and the young males of the year are destitute of the black mark on the face, and the upper figure is that of a female or a male in the plumage of the first year.

The figures are of the size of life.

MONARCHA TRIVIRGATA.

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

MONARCHA TRIVIRGATA. Black-fronted Flycatcher.

Drymophila trivirgata, Temm. Pl. Col. 418, fig. 1.