Habits
Usually in pairs, but in Tasmania often in large flocks.
Food
Insects, procured among foliage or occasionally from the ground.
Voice
A clear, sharp, musical, 'witta-witta', the second part slightly lower, repeated regularly at several second intervals for long periods. Also soft, low, trills.
Nest
Cup-shaped or partly domed, composed of bark fibre and grass, sometimes lined with feathers, in a small hollow in a tree, up to 15 m above the ground. Occasionally the nest is built in a tunnel in the bank of a creek.
Eggs (Guide)
3 - 5, usually 4; white; oval; about 19 x 15 mm. Incubation: about 15 - 24 days; by both sexes.
Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in about 21 - 26 days.
Subspecies
Geographical variation in plumage patterning complex, and has led to various taxonomic treatments. At times, nominate subspecies, substriatus and ornatus treated as three separate species, with northern subspecies uropygialis, melvillensis and melanocephalus combined as a fourth species. Further, subspecies uropygialis has sometimes been proposed as an additional species. Treatment of all subspecies as representatives of a single variable species now considered more appropriate, as substantial evidence exists of interbreeding and intermediates where subspecies come into contact.
Other proposed subspecies include: bowensis (central-eastern Queensland) and barroni (Cairns, northern Queensland), synonymized with melanocephalus; and restrictus (Jardine R, northern Queensland), synonymized with uropygialis.
The following 6 subspecies are recognised:
striatus (Gmelin, 1789) - Tasmania and Bass Strait, migrating to the mainland of eastern Australia in the non-breeding period.
ornatus Temminck, 1826 - Coastal and subcoastal eastern and south-eastern Australia, from south-eastern Qld south and south-west to the western Bassian Plain and The Grampians, Vic.
substriatus Mathews, 1912 - Much of central and western Australia, extending from the upper south-eastern Gulf of Carpentaria and the outer-western slopes of the Great Divide in Qld and the inner-western slopes in NSW, west and south-west to the Murray - Mallee of Vic., throughout SA, to the Barkly Tableland and central Australian ranges in NT, and the Pilbara Region of WA.
uropygialis Gould, 1840 - Northern Australia from the Kimberley Divide, WA to Cape York Peninsula, Qld, and south to the drainage of the Fitzroy and central Victoria Ranges, northern barkly Tableland, Selwyn Ranges and the south-eastern Gulf of Carpentaria, Qld.
melvillensis Mathews, 1912 - Tiwi Island.
melanocephalus Gould, 1838 - North-eastern Australia from the foot of Cape York Peninsula, south to north-eastern New South Wales east of the Great Divide and south-eastern Gulf of Carpentaria Drainage Basin, Qld.
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
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