298 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



Nesting of the Yellow-Tailed Tit. 



BY H. STUiVRT DOVE, WEST DEVONPORT, 

 TASMANIA, AUSTRALIA. 



The yellow-tailed tit belongs to a genns 

 (Acanthiza) which is peculiar to Austra- 

 lia and Tasmania, and includes about ten 

 species. They are placed in the family of 

 warblers, and the approved trivial name 

 is "Tit Warbler," which suits them well, 

 as they have the ever-moving, restless 

 ways among the leaves and twigs which 

 charcaterize the true tits (Paridae) — such 

 as the American chickadee, — while at the 

 same time most of them have the habit of 

 uttering a sweet little strain like the war- 

 blers. To the Colonial boy, however, and 

 to the great majority of the bush-dwell- 

 ers, this particular species is simply the 

 "Tomtit" or the "Yellow-tail," being 

 known to scientists as J. Chrysorrhea. 



He is a wee little fellow, under four 

 inches in length ; ver}- neat in his plumage 

 — olive-brown above ; yellowish- white be- 

 neath, his dark forehead spotted with 

 white, and a light line over the eye. The 

 base of the tail and upper tail-coverts are 

 bright yellow, and this contrasted with 

 the dark, terminal band makes the bird 

 very conspicuous as soon as he takes 

 wing. 



The tom-tits are gregarious during 

 autumn and winter, feeding in the trees 

 and bushes, or often on the ground, in 

 small companies, but early in the spring 

 these companies break up — each pair then 

 entering upon the serious duties of life. 



The nest is a rather bulky structure for 

 such small architects, and often loosely 

 constructed, but individuals vary greatly 

 in this particular. It is domed ; has a side 

 entrance, and is built mostly of grasses, 

 warmly lined with plentiful feathers, — 

 those of the domestic fowl being much in 

 favor. The structure is seldom placed 

 more than eight or nine feet above the 

 ground and is suspended from small 

 branches or stout twigs ; — the grass, or 

 sometimes pieces of twine, being worked 

 around the twigs until a secure hold is 

 obtained. A favorite location aboyt here 

 is amid the drooping foliage of the white 

 gum (Eucalyptus viininalis), where it is 

 impossible to see the nest among the thick 

 leafage until one gets against the tree 

 trunk and looks upward, when he may — 

 if he has beforehand a pretty good idea 

 as to its situation — be able to "spot" it. 

 About my own place this gum foliage. 



in one tree or another, is used every year,, 

 while at a friend's place over the river a 

 pair of yellow-tails builds each season in 

 the swamp tea tree (Melalenca cr ice folia) 

 just back of his cottage. This tree is of 

 an entirely diiTerent habit from the droop- 

 ing white gum, being stiff and upright 

 with short, linear foliage — more like- 

 pine-needles, — so that individualism 

 shows here as well as in the mode of nest- 

 construction. At a locality a few miles 

 past my friend's place, the prickly wattle 

 (Acacia verticillata) is the tree selected, 

 and makes unpleasant handling for 

 would-be nest-robbers. 



The "procreant cradle," swung in the 

 thick leafage of a gum only a yard or two 

 from my wood-pile, was constructed of 

 soft, partly-green grasses, with a fair 

 amount of green moss interwoven, and 

 was plentifully lined with hens' feathers. 

 It had the usual apical depression, called 

 the "cock's nest" by the boys, where the 

 lord and master is supposed to sleep while 

 his mate is brooding.. Whether he actu- 

 ally does so. I have not so far been able 

 to ascertain, owing to the dense nature 

 of the foliage in which it is situated. 

 Three white eggs were laid, of the usual, 

 rather elongated pattern with fine, glossy 

 surface. As I did not find the nest until 

 the eggs were deposited, the time of in- 

 cubation was not ascertained with cer- 

 tainty, but it was at least fifteen days. 

 The time from hatching to leaving the 

 nest was nineteen days. This agrees with 

 an observation on the same species which 

 I made in Victoria (Australia) , and is 

 much longer than the time taken by our 

 long-tailed wrens, which feather in eleven 

 to twelve days. (A brood which I timed 

 in A'ictoria left the nest on the tenth day 

 from hatching) . 



The young tom-tits have a slight grey- 

 ish down on the head and back when 

 hatched ; the eyes open about the eighth 

 day, and on the tenth day the down has 

 almost disappeared and feathers are- 

 sprouting- well on the head and body ; — 

 the yellow on the short tail and rump 

 showing distinctly. 



Our yellow-tail is not infrequently vic- 

 timized by the handsome little bronze 

 cuckoo; of which two, and possibly three 

 species visit us each spring and summer 

 from the main-land of Australia. ' The 

 eggs are practically the same size and 

 much the same shape as those of the "tit," 



