268 timeliidjE. 



in November and December. I have a set of three, taken on the 2nd September, 1892, and I 

 saw the same pair of birds working at a half-constructed nest nine days later. 



This species, which is locally known about Sydney as the "Yellow Dicky" is a common 

 foster-parent of the Bronze Cuckoo (Lamprococcyx plagosus) and the Rufous-tailed Bronze 

 Cuckoo fL. hasalis). 



Acanthiza pusilla. 



SCRUB THORN-BILL. 

 Motacilla jmsilla, White, Journ. Voy. N. S. \Vale.s, pi. opp. p. '2'u (1790). 



Acanthiza pusilla, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol., Vol. III., pi. 53 (1848); id, Gould, Handbk. Bds. 

 Austr., Vol. I., p. .364 (1865); Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mu.s., V'ol. VII., p. 294(188.3). 



Adult .'itALE — General colour above brorvn washed with dull olive-green; zipper iving-coverts 

 like the back, the greater series with dusky centres; quills dusky-brown externally edged with olive- 

 brown; upper tail-coverts light rufous-brown; tail feathers brorvn, edged with ruddy-olive and crossed 

 with a distinct subterminal black band except on the central pair; tips of the extreme edge of the 

 inner webs of the lateral feathers tvhite; forehead pale rufous loith dusky concealed centres to the 

 feathers; ear-coverts olive-brown with zohitish shaft-streaks; chin, cheeks, sides of the neck and throat 

 dull white with dusky-grey bases and narrow blackish edges at the sides of all the featliers, giving 

 these parts a distinctly mottled appearance ; centre of the breast and abdomen dull white tinged with 

 fulvous; sides of the breast pale fulvous-brown, becoming richer and deeper in colour on the flanks; 

 under tail-coverts pale fulvous; bill black; legs and feet dark brown; iris brotvnish-red. Total length 

 in the flesh J^-25 inches, wing 2, tail IS, bill 03, tarsus 0w7. 



Adult female — Similar in plumage to the male. 



Distribution.— Sonih&rn Queensland, Xew South Wales, \'ictoria. South .\ustralia. Kangaroo 

 Island. 



/~|^HE present species was the first discovered of the genus, being poorly figured and 

 -L meagrely described by White in his "Voyage to New South Wales" in 1790. There 

 can be but little doubt that Sa.xicola macularia, figured and described by Quoy and Gaimard in 

 the "\'oyage of the .\strolabe," as pointed out by Dr. Sharpe, is identical with this species. 

 I know that it is a common bird at Western Port, X'ictoria, where the Frencli naturalists 

 obtained the type. Vigors and Horsfield gave the first accurate diagnosis of Acanthiza pusilla 

 in the "Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. "'■■ 



A close ally of this species, Acanthiza apicalis, inhabits the western portions of the continent, 

 specimens examined from some parts of South .\ustralia combine the characters of both 

 A. pusilla and A. apicalis; while yet another hardly distinguishable species, A. dicmcncnsis, is 

 found in Tasmania. 



Some adult specimens are of a much brighter olive-green colour on the upper parts than 

 others, but the most marked difference e.xists in the depth of colour of the rufous-brown upper- 

 tail-coverts. The wing measurement of adult males varies from 1-9 to 2-i inches. 



Generically its name is particularly applicable to A . pusilla, for it lives almost exclusively 

 in thickets and bushes, and is never found far from them or in open forest country. Coastal 

 scrubs and the dense undergrowth of the contiguous mountain ranges are its favourite haunts. 

 I found it very common in the tea-tree scrubs on the beaches of Port Phillip Bay, Victoria; 

 also in the undergrowth near the mangrove flats of the upper portion of Western Port Bay. 

 From the South Australian Museum, I have received for examination two adult specimens 



* Trans. Linn. Soc, Vol. xv., p. 227 (1826). 



