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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, G
Ol vee 125,

Manorhina viridis, Vieill. Gal. des Ois., pl. 149.—Jard. and Selb. Ill. Orne oleae plersee

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 i. p. 692.—G. R. Gray, List of Gen. of Birds, 2nd Edit.,
emezalte

Dilbong and Dilring, Aborigines of New South Wales (Latham).

Bell-bird of the Colonists.

en. Zool., vol. x. p. 206.—Lath. Gen. Hist.,

 

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 Myzanthe must be termed Manorhine, and the former generic appellation sink into a synonym.
The Myzanthe, as 1 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 lo 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 ob-
taining its nest or eggs. ;

The sexes are precisely alike in plumage, and the young soon avian ‘ine 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 ne squeaking note, when they will
descend to ascertain the cause, and look around with the utmost curiosity. Its flight is of the same skim-

S % ie he sie r y S Dy © » ei
ming motionless kind as that of the Garrulous Honey-eater 5 and upon some given signal the whole flock,

or the greater portion of it, fly off simultaneously

The whole of the plumage, with the exception of the pr
forehead, stripe from the angle of the lower mandible, ring

and descend to some neighbouring branch in a cluster.
imaries and secondaries, yellowish olive, but the
under surface much paler than the upper;
encircling and dilated into a spot above the eye, black 5 ear-cor erts ; a
Sere hrown: the former mareined with grey and the latter with yellowish olive ; bill fine yellow ; tarsi an
’ 5 Shae
toes fine orange-yellow ; eye dark leaden brown; eyel
eye orange-red.
The Plate represents a male and a female of the natural size on ap

warra.

olive-brown ; primaries and secondaries
ash leaden grey; bare space below and behind the

ant gathered in the brushes of Illa-

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