_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _Hullmandel & Walton Imp._
]
MYZANTHA MELANOPHRYS.
Australian Bell-bird.
_Turdus melanophrys_, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp., p. xlii.
_Black-browed Thrush_, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p. 185.—Shaw,
Gen. Zool., vol. x. p. 206.—Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. v. p.
125.
_Manorhina viridis_, Vieill. Gal. des Ois., pi. 149.—Jard. and Selb.
Ill. Orn., vol. ii. pl. 78.
_Myzantha flavirostris_, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p.
319.—Less. Man. d’Orn., tom. ii. p. 67.
_Manorina viridis_, Bonn, et Vieill. Ency. Méth. Orn., part ii. p.
692.—G. R. Gray, List of Gen. of Birds, 2nd Edit., p. 21.
_Dilbong_ and _Dilring_, Aborigines of New South Wales (Latham).
_Bell-bird_ of the Colonists.
In its habits, actions and general economy the Bell-bird so closely
resembles the Garrulous Honey-eater (_Myzantha garrula_), as not to
justify its separation from the members of the group of which that is
the acknowledged type. In strict justice, perhaps, Vieillot’s name of
_Manorhina_, which has the advantage of priority, should have been
applied to all the members of this group, in which case the new species
named by me as _Myzanthæ_ must be termed _Manorhinæ_, and the former
generic appellation sink into a synonym. The _Myzanthæ_, as I have
before remarked, frequent the trees of the plains and the more open
parts of the forest; the present bird, on the other hand, evinces a
decided preference for, and appears to be strictly confined to dense and
thick brushes, particularly such as are of a humid and swampy nature,
and with the foliage of which the peculiar tint of its plumage closely
assimilates. I frequently encountered it in companies of from ten to
forty, and occasionally still greater numbers were seen disporting among
the leafy branches in search of insects and displaying many varied
actions, at one time clinging to and hanging down from the branches by
one leg, and at another prying beneath the leaves, or flying with
outspread wings and tail from tree to tree, and giving utterance to a
peculiar garrulous note totally different in sound from the faint
monotonous tinkle usually uttered, which has been justly compared to the
sound of distant sheep-bells, and which, when poured forth by a hundred
throats from various parts of the forest, has a most singular effect.
The same appellation of Bell-bird having been given by the colonists of
Swan River to a species inhabiting that part of Australia, I must here
warn my readers against considering them identical, by informing them
that the two birds are not only specifically but generically distinct.
The bird forming the subject of the present Plate has not as yet been
observed out of New South Wales, where its peculiar province is the
brushes; and if it departs from those which stretch along the coast from
Port Philip to Moreton Bay, I believe it will only be found in those
which clothe the sides of the higher hills, such as the Liverpool range
and others of a similar character. Although it is stationary in New
South Wales, and very abundant at Illawarra and in the brushes of the
Hunter, I did not succeed in obtaining its nest or eggs.
The sexes are precisely alike in plumage, and the young soon attain the
colouring of the adult.
Like the _Myzantha garrula_ it is of a prying and inquisitive
disposition, and the whole troop may be easily brought within the range
of observation by uttering any kind of harsh squeaking note, when they
will descend to ascertain the cause, and look around with the utmost
curiosity. Its flight is of the same skimming motionless kind as that of
the Garrulous Honey-eater; and upon some given signal the whole flock,
or the greater portion of it, fly off simultaneously and descend to some
neighbouring branch in a cluster.
The whole of the plumage, with the exception of the primaries and
secondaries, yellowish olive, but the under surface much paler than the
upper; forehead, stripe from the angle of the lower mandible, ring
encircling and dilated into a spot above the eye, black; ear-coverts
olive-brown; primaries and secondaries dark brown, the former margined
with grey and the latter with yellowish olive; bill fine yellow; tarsi
and toes fine orange-yellow; eye dark leaden brown; eyelash leaden grey;
bare space below and behind the eye orange-red.
The Plate represents a male and a female of the natural size on a plant
gathered in the brushes of Illawarra.
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