Volume 21, Plate XII / Ornithology (Birds)

Whiskered Fantail

Myidestes genibarbis

A simply coloured bird, glossy blue black above excepting the brown quills, darkest on the somewhat scale shaped head feathers, the black including lores, eyes, and ears, with black inner wing covers and entirely white under plumage, sometimes tinged with buff. Called the Dishwasher by New South Wales colonists, it alights on tree stumps and house ridges, makes semicircular motions while spreading its tail, and produces a loud noise like a razor grinder at work.