_J. & E. Gould del^t._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]
MALURUS CYANEUS, _Vieill._
Blue Wren.
_Sylvia cyanea_, Lath. Ind. Orn., vol. ii. p. 545.
_Motacilla cyanea_, Gmel. Syst. Nat., vol. i. p. 991.
—— _superba_, Shaw, Nat. Misc., pl. 10.
_Superb Warbler_, Shaw in White’s Voy., pl. in p. 256, upp. fig.—Ib.
Gen. Zool., vol. x. p. 754. pl. 58.—Lath. Gen. Hist., vol.
vii. p. 117, but not the plate.
_Malurus cyaneus_, Vieill. Gal. des Ois., p. 265. pl. 163.—Vig. &
Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 221.—Jard. and Selb.
Ill. Orn., vol. ii. pl. 72. fig. 3.—Gould, Syn. Birds of
Australia, Part I.
_Superb Warbler_, _Blue Wren_, etc., of the colonists.
Of the lovely group of birds forming the genus _Malurus_, the present
species is the oldest known, being that figured in White’s Voyage to New
South Wales, under the name of Superb Warbler, a term by which the bird
is still familiarly known in Australia. It is abundantly dispersed over
every portion of the colony of New South Wales, and I observed it to be
equally numerous on the plains of the interior to the northward; but how
far its range may extend in that direction, can only be determined when
those parts of the continent shall have been fully explored. I also
killed specimens in South Australia, which I then believed to be
identical with the present bird; but on comparison since my return, I
find them to be more nearly allied to the _Malurus longicaudus_, at the
same time possessing characters different from either; a further
knowledge of the South Australian bird is therefore necessary, before I
can determine to which it is referable, or if it may not be distinct
from both.
The kind of country to which the _Malurus cyaneus_ gives preference is
of a wild and sterile character, thinly covered with low scrubby
brushwood, especially localities of this description situated near the
borders of rivers and ravines. During the months of winter it associates
in small troops, of from six to eight in number, probably the brood of a
single pair; it is of a very wandering disposition, and although never
migrating to any great distance, is continually traversing the district
in which it was bred, retiring at night-fall to roost in the accustomed
haunt. At this period of the year the plumage of the sexes is so nearly
alike, that a minute examination is requisite to distinguish them, and
hence has risen the supposition that there was but one male to several
females. The old males, however, have at all seasons the bill black,
whereas the young males during the first year, and the females, have
this organ always brown; the tail-feathers also, which with the
primaries are only moulted once a year, are of a deeper blue in the male
than in the other sex. As spring advances they separate into pairs, the
male undergoing a total transformation, not only in the colour, but also
in the texture of its plumage; indeed, a more astonishing change can
scarcely be imagined, its plain and unassuming garb being thrown off for
a few months and another assumed, which for resplendent beauty is hardly
surpassed by any of the feathered race, certainly by none but the
Humming-birds and Cotingas of America: nor is the change confined to the
plumage alone, but extends also to its habits; in fact, its whole
character and nature appear to have received a new impulse; the little
creature now displaying great vivacity, proudly showing off its gorgeous
attire to the utmost advantage, and pouring out its animated song
unceasingly, until the female has completed her task of incubation, and
the craving appetites of its newly-hatched young call forth a new
feeling, and give its energies a new direction. After satisfying myself
that the gaily-adorned plumage of the male is only assumed during the
summer season, I endeavoured to ascertain at what periods these changes
take place, and I found that the adult males generally begin to assume
their blue dress in March, and to throw it off again for their winter
garb in August; but although the greater number undergo their periodical
change simultaneously, still individuals may occasionally be met with in
their brilliant plumage even in the depth of winter, owing to some
peculiar circumstance having caused them to retain it later than usual,
or having induced them to assume it at a much earlier period.
During the winter months no bird can be more tame and familiar,
frequenting the gardens and shrubberies of the settler, and hopping
about their houses as if desirous to court, rather than shun, the
presence of man; but the male, when adorned with his summer plumage,
becomes more shy and retiring, appearing to have an instinctive
consciousness of the danger to which his beauty subjects him;
nevertheless they will frequently build their little nest and rear their
young in the most populous places. Several broods are reared annually in
the Botanic Garden at Sydney, and I saw a pair busily employed in
constructing their nest in a tree close to the door of the Colonial
Secretary’s Office in that town. The short and rounded wing
incapacitates it for protracted flight, but the amazing facility with
which it is enabled to pass over the surface of the ground fully
compensates for this deficiency: this mode of progression is scarcely to
be called running, but is rather a succession of bounding hops,
performed with great rapidity: while thus employed its tail is carried
perpendicularly or thrown forward over the back; in fact, except during
flight, this organ is rarely, if ever, carried horizontally.
The breeding-season continues from September to January, during which
period at least two, if not three, broods are reared: the young of one
being scarcely old enough to provide for themselves, before the female
again commences laying: independently of rearing her own young, she is
also the foster-parent of the Bronze Cuckoo (_Chalcites lucidus_), a
single egg of which species is frequently found deposited in her nest;
but by what means, is, as in the case of the European Cuckoo, unknown.
The nest, which is dome-shaped, with a small hole at the side for an
entrance, is generally constructed of grasses, lined with feathers or
hair: the site chosen for its erection is usually near the ground, in a
secluded bush, tuft of grass, or under the shelter of a bank. The eggs
are generally four in number, of a delicate flesh-white, sprinkled with
spots and blotches of reddish brown, which are more abundant, and form
an irregular zone at the larger extremity: they are eight lines long by
five and a half broad.
The song is a hurried strain impossible to describe, but somewhat
resembling that of the Wren of Europe, a bird to which the _Maluri_ also
assimilate in many of their actions.
The stomach is muscular, and the food consists of insects of various
kinds, collected on the ground, the trunks of fallen trees, etc.
The male in summer has the crown of the head, ear-coverts and a
lunar-shaped mark on the upper part of the back light metallic blue;
lores, line over the eye, occiput, scapularies, back, rump and upper
tail-coverts velvety black; throat and chest bluish black, bounded below
by a band of velvety black; tail deep blue, indistinctly barred with a
darker hue and finely tipped with white; wings brown; under surface
buffy white, tinged with blue on the flanks; irides blackish brown; bill
black; feet brown.
The female has the lores and a circle surrounding the eye reddish brown;
upper surface, wings and tail brown; under surface brownish white; bill
reddish brown; feet fleshy brown.
The Plate represents two males and a female with the nest, the former
engaged in feeding a young Cuckoo.
[Illustration:
MALURUS LONGICAUDUS: _Gould_.
_J. & E. Gould del^t._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]
MALURUS LONGICAUDUS, _Gould_.
Long-tailed Wren.
_Malurus longicaudus_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. p. 148.
This species offers so general a resemblance to the Superb Warbler (_M.
cyaneus_), that some ornithologists may still be inclined to consider it
identical with that species; there are, however, differences in their
characters which I find to be constant, and which are, I think, of
sufficient importance to justify their being separated. The examination
of great numbers of specimens enables me to affirm that the present
species has the blue markings much more intense, is superior in size,
and has a much longer tail. If the larger birds had been inhabitants of
a warmer climate, where insect food is more abundant, it would have
permitted the supposition that temperature had had some influence in
effecting this difference; but as exactly the reverse is the case, I
have been strengthened in my opinion of their being distinct, and have
accordingly given it a name; that of _longicaudus_ appearing to me the
most appropriate, as at once distinguishing it from the _Malurus
cyaneus_, in which that organ is much shorter. It is so universally
dispersed over Van Diemen’s Land, as well as the islands in Bass’s
Straits, that to particularize any one part of the former island where
it is found more than another would be vain, since it is present in
every gully, and every other place where low scrubby bushes and
underwood are to be met with: I have also received a single specimen in
its winter dress from Kangaroo Island, which I believe is referable to
this species. Active and cheerful, and possessing a sweet warbling song,
the present bird is as much a favourite in Van Diemen’s Land as the
Superb Warbler is in New South Wales, and, like its congener, in the
winter season it is equally tame and familiar. It is subject to the same
changes of plumage, and its whole economy is so similar as to render a
separate description unnecessary. Its nest is also similarly
constructed, but is rather of a larger size; it is usually composed of
grasses and leaves warmly lined with feathers, and in some instances
with the fur of the Kangaroo and Opossum; and placed either in a small
bush near the ground, or artfully built in a tuft of grass. The season
of reproduction commences in August and lasts until January, during
which time two or three broods are reared. Like the _M. cyaneus_, it is
also the foster-parent of the Bronze Cuckoo (_Chalcites lucidus_). The
eggs, which bear a similar character, but proportionately larger than
those of the _M. cyaneus_, are four or five in number, of a flesh-white,
blotched and spotted with markings of reddish brown, particularly at the
larger end, where they form an irregular zone: they are nearly nine
lines long by six and a quarter broad.
The long legs of this species admirably adapt it for the ground, and for
traversing the fallen trunks of trees, along which, with tail erect, it
passes with the utmost activity: it is also frequently to be observed
among the low trees and bushes, the male often selecting a small
prominent bare twig, whereon to perch and warble forth his animated
song.
Its food consists of insects of various kinds, which are generally taken
on the ground: the stomach is muscular, and was frequently found to
contain grains of small sand intermingled with its natural food.
The male in summer has the crown of the head, ear-coverts and a broad
lunar-shaped mark on the upper part of the back metallic blue; lores,
line over the eye, occiput, scapularies, back, rump, and upper
tail-coverts velvety black; throat and chest bluish black, bounded below
by a band of velvety black; tail dark blue, indistinctly barred with a
darker hue and finely tipped with white; wings brown; under surface
buffy white, tinged with blue on the flanks; irides blackish brown; bill
black; feet brown.
The female has the lores and a circle surrounding the eye reddish brown;
upper surface, wings and tail brown; under surface brownish white; bill
reddish brown; feet fleshy brown.
The figures are of the natural size.
The beautiful Creeper introduced into the Plate is the _Billardiera
longiflora_.
[Illustration:
MALURUS MELANOTUS: _Gould_.
_J. & E. Gould del^t._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]
MALURUS MELANOTUS, _Gould_.
Black-backed Wren.
_Malurus melanotus_, Gould in Proceedings of Zool. Soc., November 10,
1840.
The only place in which I observed this extremely rare species was the
Belts of the Murray in South Australia; but although it was there
tolerably abundant, it was so extremely shy and distrustful, that the
few specimens in my collection, and which in all probability are the
only examples in Europe, were obtained with the greatest difficulty. It
was most frequently observed on the ground, particularly in the small
open glades and little plains by which the outer belt of this vast scrub
is diversified. The period of my visit was in winter, consequently the
specimens I collected were all out of colour, or more properly speaking,
divested of the rich blue and black plumage of summer, in which state a
single specimen has been forwarded to me by one of the party that
accompanied His Excellency Colonel Gawler and Captain Sturt, when those
gentlemen visited the Murray in 1839. It is a most interesting species,
inasmuch as it possesses characters intermediate between the _M.
cyaneus_ and _M. splendens_, having the blue belly and conspicuous
pectoral band of the latter and the black back of the former; from both,
however, it differs in the length of its toes, which are much shorter
than those of its near allies: this difference in structure exerts a
corresponding influence upon its habits and actions; for while the
others run over the ground with great facility, the Black-backed Wren
far exceeds them in this power; hence arose the great difficulty of
procuring specimens. Instead of exerting any power of flight, they
effected their escape by the extraordinary manner with which they
tripped over the small openings and through the scrub, each troop
appearing to have a leader, and keeping just beyond the range of the
gun: this shyness was rather remarkable, since I and my party were
probably the only white persons they had ever encountered; like the
Chestnut-backed Ground Thrush, they would appear to have an instinctive
dread of man.
The male in summer has the crown of the head, chin, throat, abdomen,
upper part of the back, upper and under tail-coverts beautiful metallic
blue; ear-coverts verditer-blue; lores, back of the neck, band across
the breast and lower part of the back velvety black; external margins of
all the wing-feathers green; tail bluish green, indistinctly barred with
a darker tint, and slightly tipped with white; bill black; irides and
legs blackish brown.
The female has the lores and circle surrounding the eye reddish brown;
all the upper surface brown; under surface brownish white; wings brown;
tail green, each feather slightly tipped with white; bill reddish brown;
feet brown.
The male in winter has the bill black, like the _M. cyaneus_.
The figure is that of a male and female of the natural size.
[Illustration: