266 TIMELnD.E. 



and not //. pyrrhopv^ia. Gould procured the type of H. caiita in the scrubs clothing the Murray 

 River in South Australia, which is not a very great distance horn either Kangaroo Island or 

 York Peninsula. The eggs procured by Mr. White on the latter island are more swollen in 

 form than those of H. pyi'yhopygia, the shell being close-grained and its surface smooth and 

 sli<^htly gloss}'. They are of a very faint purplish ground colour, with minute freckles of 

 purplish-brown of a slightly deeper shade on the larger end, forming on one specimen a small 

 but fairly well defined zone, the other specimen being somewhat similarly but less distinctly 

 marked. Length (.\) 074 x o-6 inches; (B) 078 x q-6 inches. These eggs are very much like 

 those of a variety of Sericoriiis frontalis. 



In the general colour above, the young male resembles the adult, but the margins of the 

 inner secondaries have a more decided rufous wash, and the wing-coverts are tipped with 

 buffy-white; the white streak above the eye is narrower and tinged with buff; the throat and 

 fore-neck is dull greyish-white, broadly streaked with pale rufous; the centre of the breast and 

 abdomen is white, and the sides of the body brown. Wing 2-08 inches. 



Oerfas -A.0-A.1>TTX^IZ-^, Viyors <C- Ilorsjleld. 



Acanthiza nana. 



YELLOW-BREASTED THORN-BILL. 

 Acanthiza nana, Vig. & Horsf., Trans. Linn. Soc, Vol. XV., p. 226 (1826); Gould, Bds. Austr., 

 fol.. Vol. III., pi. 60 (1848); id., Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. I., p. .371 (1865); Sharpe, Cat. 

 Bds. Brit. Mus, Vol. VII., p. 292 (1883). 

 Adult male — General colour above dull olive-green; lesser and median winy-coverts like the 

 back, the greater coverts and the innermost secondaries dusky brown margined with dull olive-green; 

 remainder of the quills dusky-broivn externally edged with olive-yellow ; tail feathers ashy, margined 

 with olive-green, more broadly on their basal portion, and crossed with a subterminal black band, 

 the lips of the inner webs of the feathers paler and passing into almost pure white on the extreme 

 edge; lores dusky; feathers above the eye yellow; ear coverts dull olive-green ivith rrhitish shaft- 

 streaks; sides oj the neck dull olive-green; all the under surface yelloiv, slightly tinged with olive; 

 the chin and throat washed with ochraceous-buff; sides of the body olive-green; centre of the abdomen 

 and imder tail-coverts yellow; bill dark broirn, basal half of lower mandible pearl-grey; legs and feet 

 greyish-black; iris yellowish-white. I'otal length in thejlesh Jf inches, wing 19, tail VJ^, bill OS, 

 tarsus 0-7. 



Adult fe.m.\le — Similar in plumage to the male. 

 Distribution. — New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia. 

 /~|gVHE species belonging to the closely-allied genera. Acanthiza and Gw/msZ/hm, are widely 

 JL distributed in favourable situations over Southern Australia, and both are also repre- 

 sented in Tasmania. Being strictly insectivorous, and often frequenting orchards and gardens 

 in search of food, they are most useful little birds. To many residents of Eastern Australia 

 they are well known under the comprehensive local names of "Tomtits," and "Dickies," the 

 two species belonging to the genus GMbasileus being furthermore distinguished by the names of 

 "Yellow-tail" and "Brown-tail." 



The present species is freely dispersed throughout the eastern portions of New South 

 Wales, and particularly in the neighbourhood of Sydney, where it is a permanent resident. 

 Near the coast it frequents the light undergrowth, chiefly acacia and gum sapling scrubs. In 

 autumn it associates in small flocks, and may be often seen in the same tree in company with 

 Acanthiza pusilla and A. lincata, diligently prying among the leafy recesses for minute insects 

 which constitute its sole food. Like A. lineata, it is strictly arboreal in habits, always building 



