_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]
EÖPSALTRIA AUSTRALIS.
Yellow-breasted Robin.
_Muscicapa Australis_, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp., p. li.
_Southern Motacilla_, _Motacilla Australis_, White’s Journ., pl. in p.
239.
_Southern Flycatcher_, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p. 219.—Shaw,
Gen. Zool., vol. x. p. 369.—Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. vi. p.
216.
_Pachycephala Australis_, Vig. & Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p.
242.
_Muscipeta_, sp. 15, _Muscicapa Australis_, Less. Traité d’Orn., p.
385.
_Eöpsaltria flavicollis_, Swains. Class, of Birds, vol. ii. p. 250.
—— _Australis_, G. R. Gray, List of Gen. of Birds, 2nd edit. p. 45.
_Yellow-breasted Thrush_, Lewin, Birds of New Holl., pl. 23.
_Eöpsaltria parvula_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. p. 144.
female?
_Yellow Robin_, Colonists of New South Wales.
This is a very common species in all the brushes of New South Wales; I
also observed it in most of the gardens in the neighbourhood of Sydney,
as well as in those of the settlers in the interior. It is very
Robin-like in its actions, particularly in the habit of raising its tail
at the moment of perching, and in the sprightly air with which it moves
about. It is by no means shy, and may often be seen crossing the garden
walks, perching on some stump or railing, regardless of one’s presence,
at which time the fine yellow mark on its rump is very conspicuous. Its
powers of flight are but feeble, and are seldom employed to do more than
enable it to flit from bush to bush or from tree to tree, in a
peculiarly quiet Robin-like manner; never displaying the restless
activity of the Pardalotes, Acanthizas, and many other tribes of birds.
Its food consists entirely of insects, which are more frequently taken
on the ground than on the trees.
It breeds in September and October. The nest is a beautiful, compact,
round, cup-shaped structure, about three inches in diameter and an inch
and a half deep, composed of narrow strips of bark, wiry fibrous roots,
and in some instances grasses; the outside held together with cobwebs,
and sparingly speckled over with mouse-eared lichen and small pieces of
bark, hanging loosely about it; the inside of the nest is generally
lined with leaves, but occasionally with portions of the broad blades of
grasses. It is generally placed in the fork of some low tree in an open
or exposed part of the brush, is a neat structure, and sometimes so
nearly resembles the bark of the tree upon which it is constructed, that
it is almost impossible to detect it, so extraordinary is the
instinctive power of imitation with which the bird has been endowed. The
eggs are usually two in number, of a bright apple-green, speckled and
spotted all over with chestnut-brown and blackish brown, the latter tint
being much less conspicuous than the former; they are nine lines long by
seven and a half lines broad.
It is not migratory, and so far as is known, is confined to the southern
and eastern portion of the country.
The sexes are alike in colour, but the female is somewhat smaller in
size: the young on leaving the nest has the plumage streaked and spotted
very similar to that of young Robins, but obtains the plumage of the
adult at an early period.
Head and all the upper surface, wings and tail, with the exception of
the rump, very dark grey; chin white; all the under surface and rump
wax-yellow; irides, bill and feet black.
The figures are of the natural size.
[Illustration:
EÖPSALTRIA GRISEOGULARIS, _Gould_.
_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]
EÖPSALTRIA GRISEOGULARIS, _Gould_.
Grey-breasted Robin.
_Eöpsaltria griseogularis_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. p.
144; and in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part IV.
_Bȁm-boore_, Aborigines of the lowland districts of Western
Australia.
The fact of one species representing another, as they are frequently
found to do, on opposite sides of large continents, is in no instance
more clearly exemplified than in the two species of the genus
_Eöpsaltria_ inhabiting Australia, which, although closely allied in
size, structure and colouring, as well as in habits and economy, inhabit
very different countries, one being confined to the eastern, and the
other to the western portion of the continent.
The _Eöpsaltria griseogularis_ is abundant in every part of the colony
of Swan River, inhabiting thickets and all spots clothed with vegetation
of a brush-like character. “In its actions,” says Mr. Gilbert, “this
bird is very like the Robins, being much on the ground, and when feeding
constantly flying up and perching on a small upright twig. It does not
appear to be capable of great or continued exertion on the wing, as it
is rarely seen to do more than flit from bush to bush. Its most common
note much resembles the very lengthened and plaintive song of the
_Estrelda bella_, but differs from it in being a double note often
repeated; it also utters a great variety of single notes, and during the
breeding-season pours forth a short but agreeable song.
“The nest is very difficult to detect, the situations chosen for it
being the thickly wooded gum-forests of the mountain districts and the
mahogany forests of the lowlands; from the forks of the younger of these
trees a great portion of the bark generally hangs down in strips; and in
the fork the bird generally makes its nest of narrow strips of the bark
bound together with cobwebs, while around the outside a quantity of
dangling pieces are suspended, giving it the exact appearance of other
forks of the tree; the inside of the nest has no other lining than a few
pieces of bark laid across each other, or a single dried leaf, large
enough to cover the bottom. It breeds in September and October, and lays
two eggs, which are more lengthened in form than those of _Eöpsaltria
Australis_, and are of a wood-brown obscurely freckled with yellowish
red, ten lines long by seven lines and a half broad.
“Its stomach is muscular, and its food consists of insects of various
kinds.”
The sexes are precisely similar in outward appearance.
It is stationary in Western Australia, but the extent of its range over
the continent is not yet known.
Crown of the head, ear-coverts, sides and back of the neck, and back
grey; throat and chest greyish white; abdomen, rump, upper and under
tail-coverts rich yellow; wings and tail greyish brown, the extreme tips
of the latter edged with white; bill dark horn-colour; irides very dark
reddish brown; legs and feet dark olive-brown.
The figures are male and female, of the natural size.
[Illustration:
EÖPSALTRIA LEUCOGASTER: _Gould_.
_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _Hullmandel & Walton Imp._
]
EÖPSALTRIA LEUCOGASTER, _Gould_.
White-bellied Robin.
_Eöpsaltria leucogaster_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., February 24,
1846.
The White-bellied Robin is a native of Western Australia, but is only to
be met with in the hilly portions of the country. Mr. Gilbert states
that the first specimen he procured was killed on the Darling range,
near the gorge of the River Murray, at an elevation of about seven or
eight hundred feet, and that he afterwards met with it on the southern
extremity of the same range, between Vasse and Augusta, but that he
never observed it on the lower grounds between the mountain range and
the coast. Like the other species of the genus, it was constantly seen
clinging to the bark of large upright trees, or straight and small
stems, in search of its insect food. It is extremely quiet and secluded
in its habits, is almost exclusively confined to the neighbourhood of
small mountain streams, where scarcely any other sound is heard than the
rippling and gurgling of the water over the rocks, and on the slightest
approach it immediately secretes itself among the thick scrub or
brushwood. Its song very closely resembles that of the _Petroicæ_.
Immediately before the eye a small triangular-shaped spot of black;
above the eye a faint line of greyish white; crown of the head, all the
upper surface, wings and tail dark slate-grey; the lateral tail-feathers
largely tipped with white on their inner webs; all the under surface
white; irides dark brown; bill and feet black.
The Plate represents the bird of the natural size, on one of the
beautiful and rare plants of Western Australia, a species of
_Anigozanthus_, the distinctive appellation of which I have not been
able to ascertain.
[Illustration:
MENURA SUPERBA: _Shaw_.
_J. & E. Gould del^t._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]
MENURA SUPERBA, _Davies_.
Lyre-Bird.
_Menura superba_, Davies in Linn. Trans., vol. vii. p. 207. pi.
22.—Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp., p. lxi.—Collins, New South Wales,
vol. ii. pl. in p. 93.—Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. xiv. p. 313.
_Le Parkinson_, Vieill. (Ois. Dor.) Ois. de Parad., pls. 14, 15, 16.
_Megapodius menura_, Wagl. Sys. Av., sp. 1.
_Menura Lyra_, Shaw, Nat. Misc., pl. 577.—Vieill. Gal. des Ois., pl.
192.—G. R. Gray, List of Gen. of Birds, p. 71.
_Menura Novæ-Hollandiæ_, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp., p. lxi.—Temm. Man.,
tom. 1. p. lvii.—Less. Traité d’Orn., p. 478. pl. 88.
_Parkinsonius mirabilis_, Bechst.
_Menura vulgaris_, Flem.
_Menura paradisea_, Swains. Class. of Birds, vol. ii. p. 351.
_Superb Menura_, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p. 271.—Ib. Gen.
Hist., vol. viii. p. 159. pl. cxxiv.
_Pheasant_ of the Colonists.—Beleck, Beleck and Balangara of the
Aborigines.
Were I requested to suggest an emblem for Australia among its birds, I
should without the slightest hesitation select the _Menura_ as the most
appropriate, being not only strictly peculiar to Australia, but, as far
as is yet known, to the colony of New South Wales.
Perhaps no bird has more divided the opinion of ornithologists, as to
the situation it should occupy in the natural system, than the one here
represented; and although more than fifty years have now elapsed since
the bird was first discovered, little or no information has been
hitherto published respecting its economy and habits, as ornithologists
have had only its external structure to guide them in their opinions.
Aware of this fact, I paid considerable attention to the subject while
in Australia; and after a minute observation of the bird in a state of
nature, I am decidedly of opinion, that it has not, as has been very
generally considered, the most remote relationship to the _Gallinaceæ_;
but that it forms, with the American genera _Pteroptochos_,
_Scytalopus_, and their allied groups, a family of the Insessorial
Order, to which _Troglodytes_, _Amytis_, _Stipiturus_, _Malurus_,
_Dasyornis_ and _Psophodes_ closely assimilate in their habits, and of
which they will in all probability be hereafter found to form a part.
Notwithstanding the great size of _Menura_ and the extraordinary form of
its tail, in almost every other point it presents a striking resemblance
to its minute congeners: like them, it possesses the bristles at the
base of the bill, but to a less extent, the same unusual mass of loose,
flowing, hair-like feathers on the back and rump, the same extraordinary
power of running, the like feebleness of flight; all which will, I
trust, render it evident that there are sufficient grounds for the
opinion I have here expressed. Many intervening genera will, doubtless,
yet be discovered to complete the series of affinities: at all events,
if, as I am informed is the case, the young of _Menura_ are helpless and
blind when hatched, it cannot with propriety be placed with the
_Gallinaceæ_.
In the structure of its feet, in its lengthened claws, and in its whole
contour, the Lyre-bird presents the greatest similarity to the
_Pteroptochos megapodius_ of Kittlitz. Another singular circumstance by
which their alliance is rendered still more evident, is the fact that
_Pteroptochos_ differs from the other families of the Insessorial Order
in having fourteen feathers in its tail, and that _Menura_ also differs
in the same particular in possessing sixteen. The immense feet and claws
of these two birds admirably adapt them for the peculiar localities they
are destined to inhabit; and the same beautiful modification of
structure is observable in the other genera, equally adapting them for
the situations they are intended to fulfil. Thus _Menura_ passes with
ease over the loose stones and the sides of rocky gullies and ravines,
while the _Maluri_ trip over the more open and even ground, and the
_Dasyorni_ with equal facility thread the dense scrubs and reed-beds.
As I have before stated, the great stronghold of the Lyre-bird is the
colony of New South Wales, and from what I could learn, its range does
not extend so far to the eastward as Moreton Bay; neither have I been
able to trace it to the westward of Port Philip on the southern coast;
but further research can alone determine these points. It inhabits
equally the brushes on the coast, and those that clothe the sides of the
mountains in the interior; on the coast it is especially abundant at
Western Port and Illawarra, and in all probability over a great portion
of the unexplored intervening country: in the interior the cedar brushes
of the Liverpool range, and according to Mr. George Bennett, the
Mountains of the Tumat country are among the places of which it is a
denizen. Of all the birds I have ever met with, the _Menura_ is by far
the most shy and difficult to procure. While among the brushes I have
been surrounded by these birds, pouring forth their loud and liquid
calls, for days together, without being able to get a sight of them; and
it was only by the most determined perseverance and extreme caution that
I was enabled to effect this desirable object, which was rendered the
more difficult by their often frequenting the almost inaccessible and
precipitous sides of gullies and ravines, covered with tangled masses of
creepers and umbrageous trees: the cracking of a stick, the rolling down
of a small stone, or any other noise, however slight, is sufficient to
alarm it; and none but those who have traversed these rugged, hot and
suffocating brushes, can fully understand the excessive labour attendant
on the pursuit of the _Menura_. Independently of climbing over rocks and
fallen trunks of trees, the sportsman has to creep and crawl beneath and
among the branches with the utmost caution, taking care only to advance
when the bird’s attention is occupied in singing, or in scratching up
the leaves in search of food; to watch its actions it is necessary to
remain perfectly motionless, not venturing to move even in the slightest
degree, or it vanishes from sight as if by magic. Although I have said
thus much on the cautiousness of the _Menura_, it is not always so
alert: in some of the more accessible brushes through which roads have
been cut it may frequently be seen, and even on horseback closely
approached, the bird apparently evincing less fear of those animals than
of man. At Illawarra it is sometimes successfully pursued by dogs
trained to rush suddenly upon it, when it immediately leaps upon the
branch of a tree, and its attention being attracted by the dog which
stands barking below, it is easily approached and shot. Another
successful mode of procuring specimens, is by wearing a tail of a
full-plumaged male in the hat, keeping it constantly in motion, and
concealing the person among the bushes, when the attention of the bird
being arrested by the apparent intrusion of another of its own sex, it
will be attracted within the range of the gun: if the bird be hidden
from view by the surrounding objects, any unusual sound, as a shrill
whistle, will generally induce him to show himself for an instant, by
causing him to leap with a gay and sprightly air upon some neighbouring
branch to ascertain the cause of the disturbance: advantage must be
taken of this circumstance immediately, or the next moment it may be
half-way down the gully. So totally different is the shooting of this
bird to anything practised in Europe, that the most expert shot would
have but little chance until well experienced in the peculiar nature of
the country and the habits of the bird. The _Menura_ seldom, if ever,
attempts to escape by flight, but easily eludes pursuit by its
extraordinary power of running. None are so efficient in obtaining
specimens as the naked black, whose noiseless and gliding steps enable
him to steal upon it unheard and unperceived, and with a gun in his hand
he rarely allows it to escape, and in many instances he will even kill
it with his own weapons.
The Lyre-bird is of a wandering disposition, and although it probably
keeps to the same brush, it is constantly engaged in traversing it from
one end to the other, from mountain-top to the bottom of the gullies,
whose steep and rugged sides present no obstacle to its long legs and
powerful muscular thighs; it is also capable of performing extraordinary
leaps; and I have heard it stated that it will spring ten feet
perpendicularly from the ground. It appears to be of solitary habits, as
I have never seen more than a pair together, and these only in a single
instance; they were both males, and were chasing each other round and
round with extreme rapidity, apparently in play, pausing every now and
then to utter their loud shrill calls: while thus employed they carried
the tail horizontally, as they always do when running quickly through
the bush, that being the only position in which this great organ could
be conveniently borne at such times. Among its many curious habits, the
only one at all approaching to those of the _Gallinaceæ_ is that of
forming small round hillocks, which are constantly visited during the
day, and upon which the male is continually trampling, at the same time
erecting and spreading out its tail in the most graceful manner and
uttering his various cries, sometimes pouring forth his natural notes,
at others mocking those of other birds, and even the howling of the
native dog or Dingo. The early morning and the evening are the periods
when it is most animated and active.
It may truly be said that all the beauty of this bird lies in the
plumage of his tail, the new feathers of which appear in February or
March, but do not attain their full beauty and perfection until June;
during this and the four succeeding months it is in its finest state;
after this the feathers are gradually shed, to be resumed again at the
period above stated. I am led to believe that they are all assumed
simultaneously, by the fact of a native having brought to my camp a
specimen with a tail not more than six inches long, the feathers of
which were in embryo, and all of the same length. Upon reference to my
journal I find the following notes upon the subject:—“Mar. 14, Liverpool
range. Several _Menuras_ killed to-day: their tails not so fine as they
will be.” “Oct. 25.—I find this bird is now losing its tail-feathers;
and, judging from appearances, they will be all shed in a fortnight.”
Although upon one occasion I forced this bird to take wing, it was
merely for the purpose of descending a gully, and I am led to believe
that it seldom exerts this power unless under similar circumstances. It
is particularly partial to traversing the trunks of fallen trees, and
frequently attains a considerable altitude by leaping from branch to
branch. Independently of its loud full call, which may be heard
reverberating over the gullies to the distance of at least a quarter of
a mile, it possesses an inward and varied song, the lower notes of which
can only be heard when you have successfully approached to within a few
yards of the bird during the time it is singing. This animated strain is
frequently discontinued abruptly, and again commenced with a low,
inward, snapping noise, ending with an imitation of the loud and full
note of the Satin Bird, and always accompanied with a tremulous motion
of the tail.
The food of the _Menura_ appears to consist principally of insects,
particularly centipedes and coleoptera; I also found the remains of
shelled snails in the gizzard, which is very strong and muscular.
I regret that circumstances did not admit of my acquiring a perfect
knowledge of the nidification of this very singular bird; I never found
the nest but once, and this unfortunately was after the breeding-season
was over; but all those of whom I made inquiries respecting it, agreed
in assuring me that it is either placed on the ledge of a projecting
rock, at the base of a tree, or on the top of a stump, but always near
the ground; and a cedar cutter whom I met in the brushes informed me
that he had once found a nest, which, to use his own expression, was
“built like that of a magpie,” adding that it contained but one egg, and
that upon his visiting the nest again some time afterwards he found in
it a newly-hatched young, which was helpless and destitute of the power
of vision. The natives state that the eggs are two in number, of a light
colour, freckled with spots of red. The nest seen by myself, and to
which my attention was drawn by my black companion Natty, was placed on
the prominent point of a rock, in a situation quite secluded from
observation behind, but affording the bird a commanding view and easy
retreat in front; it was deep and shaped like a basin, and had the
appearance of having been roofed; was of a large size, formed outwardly
of sticks, and lined with the inner bark of trees and fibrous roots.
General plumage brown; the secondary wing-feathers nearest the body, and
the outer webs of the remainder rich rufous brown; upper tail-coverts
tinged with rufous; chin and front of the throat rufous, much richer
during the breeding-season; all the under surface brownish ash-colour,
becoming paler on the vent; upper surface of the tail blackish brown;
under surface silvery grey, becoming very dark on the external web of
the outer feather; the inner webs of these feathers fine rufous, crossed
by numerous bands, which at first appear of a darker tint, but on close
inspection prove to be perfectly transparent; the margin of the inner
web and tips black; bill and nostrils black; irides blackish brown; bare
space round the eye blackish lead-colour; legs and feet black, the
scales mealy.
The female differs in wanting the singularly formed tail, and in having
the bare space round the eye less extensive and less brilliantly
coloured.
The Plate represents the two sexes, about half the natural size.
[Illustration: