_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _Hullmandel & Walton Imp._
]
SEÏSURA INQUIETA.
Restless Flycatcher.
_Turdus inquietus_, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp., p. xl.
_Restless Thrush_, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p. 181.—Shaw, Gen.
Zool., vol. x. p. 263.—Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. v. p. 120.
_Turdus volitans_, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp., p. xli.
_Volatile Thrush_, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p. 183.—Shaw, Gen.
Zool., vol. x. p. 290.—Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. v. p. 122.
_Seïsura volitans_, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p.
250.—Swains. Class. of Birds, vol. ii. p. 256.—G. R. Gray,
List of Gen. of Birds, 2nd Edit., p. 43.—Nat. Lib. Orn.,
vol. x., Flycatchers, pl. 12. p. 138.
_Jiẗ-tee-gnut_, Aborigines of Western Australia.
_The Grinder_, of the Colonists of Swan River and New South Wales.
This species ranges over the whole of the southern portions of the
Australian continent, and appears to be as numerous at Swan River as it
is in New South Wales, where it may be said to be universally
distributed, for I observed it in every part I visited, both among the
brushes as well as in the more open portions of the country, in all of
which it is apparently a stationary species. It is a bird possessing
many peculiar and very singular habits. It not only captures its prey
after the usual manner of the other Flycatchers, but it frequently
sallies forth into the open glades of the forest and the cleared lands,
and procures it by poising itself in the air with a remarkably quick
motion of the wings, precisely after the manner of the English Kestrel
(_Tinnunculus Alaudarius_), every now and then making sudden
perpendicular descents to the ground to capture any insect that may
attract its notice. It is while performing these singular movements that
it produces the remarkable sound, which has procured for it from the
colonists of New South Wales the appellation of “The Grinder.” The
singular habits of this species appear to have attracted the notice of
all who have paid any attention to the natural history of New South
Wales: Mr. Caley observes, “It is very curious in its actions. In
alighting on the stump of a tree it makes several semicircular motions,
spreading out its tail at the time, and making a loud noise somewhat
like that caused by a razor-grinder at work. I have seen it frequently
alight on the ridge of my house, and perform the same evolutions:” and
Latham says, “It is observed to hover about two feet from the ground,
making sudden darts on something, which, by attention, was found to be a
sort of worm, which this bird, by a chirping note, and tremulous motion
of the wings, with the tail widely expanded, seemed to fascinate out of
its hole in the ground.” To this I may add the following account of the
actions and manners of this species as observed by Mr. Gilbert in
Western Australia:—
“This bird is found in pairs in every variety of situation. Its general
note is a loud harsh cry several times repeated; it also utters a loud
clear whistle; but its most singular note is that from which it has
obtained its colonial name, and which is only emitted while the bird is
in a hovering position at a few feet above the ground; this noise so
exactly resembles a grinder at work, that a person unaware of its being
produced by a bird might easily be misled. Its mode of flight is one of
the most graceful and easy imaginable; it rarely mounts high in flying
from tree to tree, but moves horizontally with its tail but little
spread, and with a very slight motion of the wings; it is during this
kind of flight that it utters the harsh note above-mentioned; the
grinding note being only emitted during the graceful hovering motion,
the object of which appears to be to attract the notice of the insects
beneath, for it invariably terminates in the bird descending to the
ground, picking up something, flying into a tree close by, and uttering
its shrill and distinct whistle.”
The food consists of insects of various kinds, and it is said to devour
scorpions also.
The months of September, October and November constitute the
breeding-season. The nests observed by me in New South Wales were rather
neatly made, very similar to those of _Rhipidura Motacilloïdes_,
cup-shaped, and composed of fine grasses matted together on the outside
with cobwebs, and lined with very fine fibrous roots and a few feathers;
they were placed on horizontal branches frequently overhanging water.
The eggs, which are sometimes only two, but mostly three in number, are
dull white, distinctly zoned round the centre with spots of chestnut and
greyish brown, the latter colour appearing as if beneath the surface of
the shell; their medium length is nine lines and a half by seven lines
in breadth. The nests found by Mr. Gilbert in Western Australia were
remarkably neat and pretty, and were formed of cobwebs, dried soft
grasses, narrow strips of gum-tree bark, the soft paper-like bark of the
_Melaleucæ_, &c., and were usually lined with feathers or a fine wiry
grass, and in some instances horse-hair; the situations chosen for its
erection are the most difficult of access, being the upper side, the
extreme end and the dead portion of a horizontal branch. The bird is
very reluctant to leave the nest, and will almost suffer itself to be
handled rather than desert its eggs.
The sexes are very similar in plumage, but the female and young males
have the lores or space between the bill and the eye not so deep a black
as in the male.
Head and all the upper surface shining bluish black; wings dark brown;
tail brownish black; lores deep velvety black; under surface silky
white, with the exception of the sides of the chest, which are dull
black; irides dark brown; basal half of the sides of the upper mandible
and the basal two-thirds of the lower mandible greenish blue; the
remainder of the bill bluish black; legs and feet dark bluish brown.
The figures are of the natural size, the upper one exhibiting a rufous
tint on the breast, which frequently occurs.
[Illustration:
PIEZORHYNCHUS NITIDUS: _Gould_.
_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]
PIEZORHYNCHUS NITIDUS, _Gould_.
Shining Flycatcher.
_Piezorhynchus nitidus_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part VIII. p.
171.
_Un̈g-bur-ka_, Aborigines of Port Essington.
I here give a representation of a Flycatcher, whose habitat, so far as
we know, is restricted to the northern portions of Australia. It is by
no means scarce at Port Essington, but, from the extreme shyness of its
disposition and the situations it inhabits, it is seldom seen; specimens
in fact are not procured without considerable trouble and difficulty. As
I have not myself seen the bird in its native haunts, I shall
transcribe, with as little alteration as possible, Mr. Gilbert’s notes
respecting it:—“Inhabits the densest mangroves and thickets, and is
usually seen creeping about close to the ground among the fallen trees
in the swamps, at which time it utters a note so closely resembling the
croak of a frog, that it might easily be mistaken for the voice of that
animal; this peculiar note would seem to be only emitted while the bird
is feeding on the ground; for when it occasionally mounts to the higher
branches of the trees it utters a rather pleasing succession of sounds
resembling _twit-te-twite_; on the slightest disturbance it immediately
descends again to the underwood and recommences its frog-like note. The
nest is either built among the mangroves, or on the verge of a thicket
near an open spot. One that I found among the mangroves was built on a
seedling-tree not more than three feet from the ground; another was on a
branch overhanging a small running stream within reach of the hand;
while a third, constructed on the branches of the trees bordering a
clear space in the centre of a dense thicket, was at least twenty feet
high. The nest at all times so closely resembles the surrounding
branches, that it is very difficult to detect unless the birds are very
closely watched; in some instances it looks so like an excrescence of
the tree, and in others is so deeply seated in the fork whereon it is
placed, that it can only be discovered when the bird is sitting upon it.
The nest is about two inches and a half in height and three and a
quarter in diameter, is of a cup-shaped form, with the rim brought to a
sharp edge, and is outwardly composed of the stringy bark of an
_Eucalyptus_ bound together on the outside with vegetable fibres, among
which in some instances cobwebs are mixed: all over the outside of the
nest small pieces of bark resembling portions of lichens are attached,
some of them hanging by a single thread and moving about with every
breath of air; the internal surface is lined with a strong wiry
thread-like fibrous root, whereby the whole structure is rendered nearly
as firm as if it were bound with wire.”
The eggs, which are two in number, are ten lines long and seven lines
broad, of a bluish white, blotched and spotted all over with olive and
greyish brown, the spots of the latter hue being less numerous and more
obscure; the spots inclining towards the form of a zone at the larger
end.
The food consists of insects of various kinds.
The male has the whole of the plumage rich deep glossy greenish black;
irides dark brown; bill greyish blue at the base, black at the tip;
tarsi greenish grey.
The female has the top and sides of the head and the back of the neck
rich deep glossy greenish black; the remainder of the upper surface,
wings and tail rusty brown; and the whole of the under surface white.
The figures are those of a male and a female of the natural size.
[Illustration: