Chiming Wedgebill

SCI Name:  Psophodes occidentalis
Protonym:  Sphenostoma cristatum occidentale Novit.Zool. 18 p.378
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Psophodidae / Psophodes
Taxonomy Code:  chiwed1
Type Locality:  Day Dawn, Western Australia.
Author:  Mathews
Publish Year:  1912
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

PSOPHODES
(Psophodidae; Ϯ Eastern Whipbird P. olivaceus) Gr. ψοφωδης psophōdēs  noisy, full of sound  < ψοφος psophos  noise; "Genus. PSOPHODES*.   Rostrum forte, breve, subrectum, subcompressum; culmine vix carinato, subarcuato; mandibulis integris; naribus basalibus, ovalibus, plumulis setisque frontis opertis; rictu vibrissis fortibus incumbentibus instructo.  Alæ brevissimæ, rotundatæ; remigibus prima brevi, secunda tertia et quarta gradatim longioribus, quinta ad nonam inclusam fere æqualibus, longissimis.  Cauda elongata, gradata.  Pedes subfortes, subelongati; acrotarsiis scutellatis, paratarsiis integris.      This form offers one of the greatest difficulties to the investigator of affinities. The birds that exhibit it are said to be Honey-Eaters. This we much doubt.  They are found among the flowers of the Eucalypti; but this circumstance may arise as well from their being in search of the insects abounding in these flowers, as of the honey contained in them. It is strange that we have never been able to examine a tongue of these birds, although the skins are common.  Their general appearance indicates much of the Shrike.  The strong bristles of the rictus suggest the idea of their food being animal, and indeed originally induced Dr. Latham to place them in the Linnean Muscicapæ.  The integrity of the margins of the bill, on the other hand, seems to militate against this supposition.  The extreme shortness and roundness of the wing again, and the long and graduated tail, are additional characters that demand consideration.    ...  *ψοφος crepitus.   ...     1. CREPITANS.   ...   Muscicapa crepitans. Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp. p. li. no. 10.  Coach-whip Honey-Eater. Id. Gen. Hist. iv. p. 187. no. 43.  Mr. Caley informs us that "this bird is more often heard than seen. It inhabits brushes. The loud cracking whip-like noise it makes (from whence the colonists give it the name of Coach-whip) may be heard from a great distance."" (Vigors & Horsfield 1827); "Psophodes Vigors and Horsfield, 1827, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, 15, p. 328. Type, by monotypy, Muscicapa crepitans Latham = Corvus olivaceus Latham." (Deignan in Peters 1964, X, 229).
Var. Psofodes, Phosphodes.
Synon. Phodopses, Sphenostoma.

occidentale / occidentalis
L. occidentalis  western  < occidens, occidentis  west  < occidere  to set. This toponym was frequently given to taxa discovered in locations west of previously known populations.
● Cocal, Western Andes, Colombia (Dysithamnus).
● Jamaica; ex “Onocrotalus” or “Pelecanus fuscus” of Sloane 1725, “Pelican of America” of Edwards 1747, and “Pelecanus” of Browne 1756 (Pelecanus).
● TL. Day Dawn, Western Australia; "Westralian Wedgebill" (Mathews 1912) (Psophodes).