270 TIMRLIID.T,, 



of a moth. We flushed a bird from it on our approach and found the nest contained two fresh 

 eggs, but the bird would not venture near while we were in the vicinity. Returning again 

 towards the evening I succeeded, by placing my hand over the entrance of the nest, in 

 capturing the owner while sitting, and found it was Acnnthiza pusilhi. After examining the 

 bird, during which time it courageously picked at my finger, I restored it to liberty; 



Mr. H. R. Elvery, of Alstonville, near Ballina, at the mouth of the Richmond River, sent 

 me a skin and set of three eggs of this bird for identification, and informed me that he had 

 taken altogether four sets of these eggs at different times from re-lined old nests of Sericoi'ins 

 citrcogularis. Previously I had never heard of an instance of this, or any other species of 

 Acanthiza, appropriating the disused nest of another bird. 



The nest figured on the preceding page, was taken by Mr. S. W. Moore at Eastwood, 

 thirteen miles north of Sydney, on the ist November, 1902. It is almost globular in form, 

 with a rounded entrance near the top; externally it is formed of strips of dead greyish-white 

 bark matted up and held together with cobwebs and egg-bags of spiders; the inside being 

 lined with reddish bark-fibre, fine grasses, and feathers. Externally it averages four inches and 

 a quarter in length by three inches and three-quarters in diameter, and across the entrance one 

 inch and a quarter. It was built in a low shrubby tree, about eight feet from the ground, and 

 contained two fresh eggs. 



The eggs are usually three in number for a sitting, oval in form, the shell being close- 

 grained and slightly lustrous. Typically they are white, some specimens being tinged with 

 buff, finely freckled with dull red, pale reddish-brown, and in rare instances faint purplish-red. 

 The markings as a rule predominate on the larger end, where a small zone or cap is formed. 

 A set now before me have small pale brownish-red caps only on the thicker end, and are 

 otherwise destitute of markings. A set of three, taken from a nest built in a dwarf Lcpto- 

 spenmmi, at Frankston, Victoria, measures:— Length (A) 0-65 x 0-5 inches; (B) 0-65 x 0-47 

 inches; (C) 0-64 x 0-48 inches. A set of two, taken at W'oonona, New South Wales, 

 measures:— (A) 0-65 x 0-48 inches; (B) 072 x 0-5 inches. A set of three, taken at Roseville 

 on the 1st September, 1900, measures: — (A) 0-63 x 0-47 inches; (B) 0-62 x 0-5 inches; (C) 0-63 

 X 0'47 inches. 



Nidification in the neighbourhood of Sydney usually commences about the middle of 

 June, the species being one of the earliest breeders, but nests with eggs are more often found 

 at the end of July or early in August. Two, if not three, broods are probably reared during the 

 season, for nests with young may be found from early in August to the middle of December. 



This species is very often the foster parent of Lamprococcyx plagosiis and L. basalts, and not 

 infrequently Cacomaiitis flahclUformis. Mr. D. Swift found a nest on the 31st August, 1893, built 

 in a dwarf Melaleuca on the WoolH Creek, containing two eggs of Acanthiza pusilla, and an egg 

 each oi Lamprococcyx plagosiis, L. basalis, and Cacomaiitis flabclliformis. This unusual set of eggs 

 I exhibited at a meeting of the Linnean Society of New South Wales." Another nest I 

 examined on the 13th September, 1893, built in the near vicinity where the previous one was 

 taken, contained a single egg of Cacomaiitis flabelliforinis, but on visiting it the following day the 

 egg was missing and an egg of Lamprococcyx basalis found in its place. All species of Cuckoos 

 frequenting the neighbourhood of Sydney were unusually abundant that season. 



An adult female, procured by Mr. F. R. Zietz in October, 1901, at Queenscliff, on Kangaroo 

 Island, appears to be an insular form, intermediate between Acanthiza pusilla and A. apicalis. 

 From typical examples of A. pusilla it may be distinguished by the ashy shade of the upper 

 parts, which are also less distinctly washed with olive-green, duller coloured rump and upper 

 tail-coverts, slightly darker wings, and by the sides of the neck being ashy-brown. Total 



• Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., 2nd ser., Vol. viii , p. 327 (1894). 



