TROPIDORHYNCHUS CITREOGULARIS,Gould.Yellow-throated Friar-Bird.
Tropidorhynchus citreogularis, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part IV. p. 143; and in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part I.
Ȁr-dulkandWȕl-loo-rat?Aborigines of Port Essington.
Leather-neckof the Colonists of Port Essington.
Yellow-throated Friar, Colonists of New South Wales.
This is strictly a bird of the interior of the south-eastern portion of Australia, and is never, so far as I am aware, found on the sea-side of the mountain ranges. I observed it in tolerable abundance during my tour to the Namoi; first meeting with it in the neighbourhood of Brezi, whence as I descended the river to the northward it gradually became more numerous. I killed both adult and young birds in December, the latter of which had just left the nest, consequently the breeding-season must have been about a month previous. The yellow colouring of the throat represented in my ‘Synopsis of the Birds of Australia,’ is peculiar to the period of immaturity; in the adult this colouring is entirely wanting, and the bird is one of the plainest-coloured species of the Australian Fauna.
Its habits and manners are very similar to those of theTropidorhynchus corniculatus; like that bird it feeds on insects, berries, fruits, and the flowers of theEucalypti, among the smaller branches of which it may constantly be seen hanging and clinging in every possible variety of attitude.
In the neighbourhood of Port Essington on the north coast, a species of this form is found which precisely resembles the present bird in every respect, except that it is about one-fifth smaller and has a rather larger bill; if these birds should ultimately prove to be merely varieties of each other, then the range of the species will be very extensive indeed; in my own opinion they are distinct, but whether I am right in thus believing or not, can only be ascertained by an increased knowledge of the productions of this vast continent.
Mr. Gilbert states that the Port Essington bird is less abundant, less active, and has not so deep a voice as theT. argenticeps, but that the habits and manners of the two birds are precisely similar.
The adult has the whole of the upper surface, wings and tail light brown; all the under surface pale greyish brown; bill and legs leaden olive; irides and eyelash nearly black; naked part of the face mealy bluish lead-colour.
The young are similar to the adult, but have the feathers of the upper surface fringed with grey, and those of the wings slightly margined with greenish yellow; the throat and sides of the chest lemon-yellow; face blackish, and not so mealy as in the adult.
The young of the Port Essington bird has the yellow colouring of the throat still more extensive than in the bird from New South Wales.
The figures represent an adult and a young bird from specimens killed on the Namoi.