of scores of the hairs of the caterpillars, together with the segments of their bodies and softer inner parts.
The rich and varied notes of the species are well known to every Australian bushman, as also are its extraordinary ventriloquial powers. The several combinations of notes I fix as seven. Some combinations are inimitable, or at least have not an equivalent in the English language. Some, however, have an equivalent, perhaps fanciful. Three of these I translate as follows:—One, "Billy Pope," thrice repeated; another, "Honour the Pope," oft repeated; and a third, "Where's Subiaco?" These birds, together with their compeers in song, Sphenostoma cristatum, Cracticus nigugularis, Collyriocincla rufiveintris, and Pachycephala falcata (which were invariably found in association), made the scrub-lands ring again with their melody. The aborigines call the bird "Baacka Baacka," evidently in imitation of one of their combinations of notes.
Sphenostoma cristatum (Gould).—These singular birds were also very numerous in the "prickly reminder" scrubs, probably owing to the security afforded by them. Many writers have spoken of the species as being extremely shy and difficult of approach, but that was not my experience. Their marvellously developed ventriloquial powers certainly make the birds difficult to locate, but when once located they are easy to approach. I could have shot a score without any trouble. They are able to throw their voices at least three hundred yards in any direction. Their notes are four, given with a clear, ringing, bell-like sound. When two or three sing in concert all other bird-notes are overpowered. Locally they are called (onomatopoeically) "Jimmy Linthorne" (the name of a local celebrity), and by others the "Bell-Bird." I much prefer, as a vernacular name, the one suggested by Dr. Morrison, of our party—namely, the "Chimes-Bird"—as it is particularly appropriate. I examined the contents of the stomach of one bird; they included the remains of a grasshopper and the seeds of various plants, which I have not yet had identified. The native name is "Geetardo."
Xerophila castaneiventris (Milligan).—I was, indeed, pleased to meet with this new species. The birds were in great numbers. They associate in small companies, and for the most part keep to the prickly bushes before mentioned. They appear to feed on the ground under these bushes, and when alarmed rise into them. They are very sprightly in their movements, and their song is composed of two or three plaintive but musical notes. Their loosely constructed nests are built in the prickly bushes. The plumage of one bird that I shot was wholly tinged with warm chestnut.
Cracticus nigrigularis (Gould).—This handsome Butcher-Bird was numerous in the "red" lands, but principally in the beautiful white-limbed "flooded gums " (Eucalyptus rostrata). His notes suggest the vastness of the Australian bush and continent. At dawn his clear cornet-like notes ring out far above the great chorus of bird-song. They are various, and some impossible of transla-
