The foregoing notes are not intended by any means to represent every species worthy of reference upon the lines indicated.
The following field notes on the rarer or less known forms secured during the trip may prove interesting:—
Ptilotis carteri (Campbell).—These birds were invariably found in the "York gum belts, both at Yandanooka and Ebano. In habit and disposition they are restless and pugnacious, chasing each other from tree to tree in noisy quarrel. They have a habit similar to that of Ptilotis ornata (which they resemble in their notes and general characteristics) of rising frequently into the air from the top of a tree, uttering a distinct note. We secured a series of some 12 skins, and in every one (except a fledgling) the black auricular line and yellow throat and chest striations (distinguishing marks already recorded by me[1]) were always present and conspicuous. Lately I have had the opportunity of comparing the above with two skins of Ptilotis leilavalensis (North), from the Carpentaria district, kindly lent by Dr. W. M'Gillivray, and in neither of these skins do the black line and striations appear. The white plumes in the latter, also, are less strongly developed. I have therefore not the slightest hesitation in pronouncing the two species distinct. Fortunately, when I was making the comparison, Mr. Tom Carter, formerly of Point Cloates, was on a visit to Perth, and he, after making a critical examination of the skins of both species, expressed himself as entirely in accord with my pronouncement. Certainly, the general pattern of the plumage of the two species is very similar, but the same remarks apply with equal force to Ptilotis plumula, which appears to be an inland representative of Ptilotis carteri. Convert the yellow plumes of Ptilotis plumula into white, and you have P. carteri. I cannot admit P. penicillata as being as near an ally to P. carteri or to P. leilavalensis as is either P. plumula or P. flavescens.
Oreoica cristata (Lewin).—This species was very common everywhere, and I was fortunate in finding two nests containing eggs. One nest was placed in the fork of a large prickly mimosa bush about 2 feet above the ground; the other in a "prickly reminder" bush, at about the same height. The occupant of each nest sat very closely, and did not seem disposed to move on my near approach. Each nest abounded with black hairy caterpillars—a circumstance which has already been observed and recorded by field naturalists in regard to the species. The presence of such life has not hitherto been satisfactorily accounted for, and the suggestion that the caterpillars are placed there by one of the pair as food supplies for the sitting bird has been rejected. I am unable to concur in the rejection. The fact of each bird sitting so closely led me to the conclusion that they could not be there for any purpose other than food. However, subsequently I shot one of the species (not one of the nesting birds) and had the contents of its stomach preserved for examination on my return. Such examination, with the aid of a strong magnifying glass, revealed the presence
- ↑ Emu, vol. iv, p. 51.
