This bird is a stationary species, and appears to be distributed over
all parts of New South Wales and South Australia; it is very abundant in
the whole of the Upper Hunter district, and I have also killed it in the
interior of South Australia; it is usually met with in small troops of
from six to ten in number, feeding upon the ground, over which it runs
with considerable rapidity; the entire troop keeping together, but one
bird running before the other and searching for food with the most
scrutinizing care. In disposition it is one of the tamest of the larger
birds I ever encountered, readily admitting of a very close approach,
and then merely flying off to the low branch of some neighbouring tree.
During flight the white marking of the wing shows very conspicuously,
and on alighting the bird displays many curious actions, leaping from
branch to branch with surprising quickness, at the same time spreading
the tail and moving it up and down in a very singular manner; on being
disturbed it peeps and pries down upon the intruder below, and generally
utters a harsh, grating, disagreeable and tart note; at other times,
while perched among the branches of the trees, it makes the woods ring
with its peculiar hollow mournful pipe.
During the pairing-season the male becomes very animated, and his
manners so remarkable, that it would be necessary for my readers to
witness the bird in its native wilds to form a just conception of them:
while sitting on the same branch close to the female, he spreads out his
wings and tail to the fullest extent, lowers his head, puffs out his
feathers and displays himself to the utmost advantage, and when two or
more are engaged in these evolutions, the exhibition cannot fail to
amuse and delight the spectator. A winged specimen gave me more trouble
to catch than any other bird I ever chased; its power of passing over
the ground being so great, that it bounded on before me and cleared
every obstacle, hillocks and fallen trees, with the utmost facility.
The White-winged Chough is a very early breeder, and generally rears
more than one brood in a year, the breeding-season extending over the
months of August, September, October and November. The nest is a most
conspicuous fabric, composed of mud and straw, resembling a bason, and
is usually placed on the horizontal branch of a tree near to or
overhanging a brook. The eggs vary from four to seven in number, and are
of a yellowish white, boldly blotched all over with olive and purplish
brown, the latter tint appearing as if beneath the surface of the shell;
they are one inch and a half long by one inch and one line broad.
It has often struck me that more than one female deposited her eggs in
the same nest, as four or five females may be frequently seen either on
the same or the neighbouring trees, while only one nest is to be found.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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