_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]
POMATORHINUS SUPERCILIOSUS, _Vig. & Horsf._
White-eyebrowed Pomatorhinus.
_Pomatorhinus superciliosus_, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol.
xv. p. 330.—Capt. Sturt’s Expeditions to South Australia,
vol. ii. p. 219.
_Gnow-un_, Aborigines of the mountain districts of Western Australia.
This species ranges over the whole of the southern portion of the
continent of Australia, where it must be regarded as a bird peculiar to
the interior, rather than as an inhabitant of the districts near the
coast. It is common on the Liverpool Plains in New South Wales, and it
was particularly noticed by my friend Captain Sturt during his
expedition to the Darling. I myself encountered it near the bend of the
river Murray, and it has also been found in the York district of Western
Australia, but I have never heard of its having been seen either in the
north or north-western parts of the country. It usually moves about in
small troops of from six to ten in number, and is without exception the
most restless, noisy, querulous bird I ever encountered. Its mode of
progression among the branches of the trees is no less singular than is
its voice different from that of other birds; it runs up and down the
branches of the smaller trees with great rapidity and with the tail very
much spread and raised above the level of the back. It usually feeds
upon the ground under the Banksias and other low trees, but upon the
least intrusion flits on to the lowest branch, and by a running or
leaping motion quickly ascends to the highest, when it flies off to the
next tree, uttering at the same time a jarring, chattering and
discordant jumble of notes, which are sometimes preceded by a rapidly
repeated, shrill, piping whistle.
When a troop are engaged in ascending the branches, which they usually
do in line, they have a singular habit of suddenly assembling in a
cluster, spreading their tails and wings, and puffing out their plumage
until they resemble a complete ball of feathers.
The breeding-season commences in September and continues during the
three following months. The nest is a large domed structure of dried
sticks, with an entrance in the side, which is hidden from view by the
sticks of the upper part of the nest being made to project over it for
four or five inches like the thatch of a shed; the inside is generally
lined with the soft parts of flowers and the dust of rotten wood, but
occasionally with feathers. In Western Australia the nest is usually
constructed in a dead jam-tree, the branches of which are drawn together
at the top like a broom. It often happens that three or four pairs of
birds build their nests in the same small clump of trees. The eggs are
very like those of _P. temporalis_, the ground colour being olive-grey
clouded with purplish brown, and streaked with similar hair-like lines
of black; they are usually four in number, eleven and a half lines long
by eight lines broad.
The sexes as well as the young so closely resemble each other, that they
can only be distinguished by the aid of dissection.
Lores, space surrounding the eye and the ear-coverts dark silky brown; a
broad line of white, bounded above and beneath with a narrow one of dark
brown, commences at the base of the upper mandible, passes over the eye
and continues to the occiput; crown of the head and all the upper
surface, flanks and under tail-coverts olive-brown, passing into a purer
and deeper brown on the primaries; tail dark brown, crossed by very
indistinct bars of a darker colour, the five lateral feathers on each
side tipped with white; chin, throat and chest white; bill blackish
brown, the lower part of the under mandible greyish white; irides in the
adult straw-yellow, in the young brown; feet blackish brown.
The figures are of the natural size.
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