_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _Hullmandel & Walton Imp._
]
SCYTHROPS NOVÆ-HOLLANDIÆ, _Lath._
Channel-Bill.
_Scythrops Novæ-Hollandiæ_, Lath. Ind. Orn., vol. i. p. 141.—Temm.
Man. d’Orn., tom. i. p. lxxv.—Vig. and Horsf. in Linn.
Trans., vol. xv. p. 306.—Temm. Pl. Col., 290.—Vieill. Gal.
des Ois., tom. i. pl. 39.—Less. Traité d’Orn., p. 128. pl.
23. fig. 1.—Ib. Man. d’Orn., tom. ii. p. 128.—G. R. Gray,
List of Gen. of Birds, 2nd Edit., p. 73.—Vieill. Nouv. Dict.
d’Hist. Nat., tom. xxx. p. 456.—Ib. Ency. Méth., tom. iii.
p. 1427.
_Psittaceous Hornbill_, Phil. Bot. Bay, pl. in p. 165.
_Anomalous Hornbill_, White’s Journ., pl. in p. 142.
_Channel-Bill_, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p. 96. pl. 124.
_Australasian Channel-Bill_, Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. viii. p. 378. pl.
50.—Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. ii. p. 300. pl. xxxii.
_Scythrops Australasiæ_, Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. viii. p. 378.—Ib.
Steph. Cont., vol. xiv. p. 95.
—— _Australis_, Swains. Class. of Birds, vol. ii. p. 299.
_Curriay-gun_, Aborigines of New South Wales.
This remarkable bird, which has been considered a Hornbill by some
naturalists, and as nearly allied to the Toucans by others, is in
reality a member of the family _Cuculidæ_ or Cuckoos; an examination of
its structure and a comparison of it with that of the other species of
the family will render this very apparent, and I may add, that the
little I saw of it in a state of nature fully confirms the opinion here
given; its habits, actions, and mode of flight are precisely the same,
as is also the kind of food upon which it subsists, except that it
devours the larger kinds of _Phasmiæ_ and _Coleoptera_ instead of the
smaller kinds of insects eaten by the other members of the family, and
that it occasionally feeds upon fruits; the changes too which it
undergoes from youth to maturity are exactly similar.
It is a migratory bird in New South Wales, arriving in October and
departing again in January; whither it proceeds is not known, but as it
has not been found out of Australia nor even on the north coast of that
country, it cannot retire very far. As I had but few opportunities of
observing it myself, I cannot do better than transcribe the particulars
recorded by Latham, who in the second volume of his ‘General History of
Birds,’ says, “It is chiefly seen in the morning and evening, sometimes
in small parties of seven or eight, but more often in pairs; both on the
wing and when perched it makes a loud screaming noise when a hawk or
other bird of prey is in sight. In the crop and gizzard the seeds of the
red gum and peppermint trees have been found; it is supposed that they
are swallowed whole, as the pericarp or capsule has been found in the
stomach; exuviæ of beetles have also been seen, but not in any quantity.
The tail, which is nearly the length of the body, is occasionally
displayed like a fan, and gives the bird a majestic appearance. The
natives appear to know but little of its habits or haunts; they consider
its appearance as an indication of blowing weather, and that its
frightful scream is through fear, as it is not a bird of very active or
quick flight. It is not easily tamed, for Mr. White observes, that he
kept a wounded one alive for two days, during which it would eat
nothing, but bit everything that approached it very severely.”
New South Wales is the only one of the Australian colonies whence I have
seen examples of this bird. Most naturalists will be anxious to know if,
like the other Cuckoos, this species is parasitic; unfortunately however
I am not able to clear up this point: but I possess an egg which has
been recently sent me by Mr. Strange of Sydney; it is fully developed,
and he informs me was taken by himself from the ovarium of a female
after he had shot the bird. It is of a light stone-colour, marked all
over, but particularly at the larger end, with irregular blotches of
reddish brown, many of which are of a darker hue and appear as if
beneath the surface of the shell; it is one inch eleven-sixteenths long
by one inch and a quarter broad.
The sexes are alike in plumage, but the female is somewhat smaller than
the male.
Head, neck and breast grey; all the upper surface, wings and tail
greenish olive-grey, each feather largely tipped with blackish brown;
tail crossed near the extremity by a broad band of black and tipped with
white, which gradually increases in extent as the feathers recede from
the centre; the inner webs are also largely toothed with white, which is
bounded posteriorly with a broad streak of black; under surface of the
wing and body buffy white crossed with indistinct bars of greyish brown,
which gradually deepen in colour on the flanks and thighs; orbits and
lores scarlet; bill light yellowish horn-colour; feet olive-brown.
The Plate represents a male rather less than the natural size.
[Illustration: