280 TIMELIID.E 



^(^^ OULD, who described this species in 1837 from examples obtained in New South 

 V-JT Wales, had up to the time of the publication of his ''Handbook to the Birds of 

 Australia." gained no information as to its habits and economy, or even the particular haunts 

 it frequented. The late Mr. R. H. Nancarrow contributed a very interesting account of 

 finding it breeding in the Whipstick Scrub, near Bendigo, Victoria, in October, 1881." The 

 late Mr. K. H. Bennett obtained several specimens at Moolah, in the Western District of New 

 South Wales, in .\ugust, 1883, and later on at Mossgiel, where he found it breeding in 1886. 

 In his MS. notes, made in the latter district, he remarks:— "^rrt»//«^(7 nvopygialis is the only 

 species of the genus that I have noticed in this part of the colony. It is tolerably abundant in 

 the back country, associating in small flocks of about six or eight individuals. The nest is 

 dome-shaped, very like that of the Maluri, and is composed of soft dried grasses and bark fibre, 

 neatly lined with feathers or fur. It is almost always placed in a hollow timb or trunk of some 

 small tree, and three eggs are usually laid for a sitting. I have found nests containing eggs 

 from September to December." There is also a specimen in the Reference Collection obtained 

 by Mr. Robert Grant at Byrock, New South Wales. 



Mr. Edwin Ashby sent me a specimen for examination that he had shot at Morchard, 

 South Australia, in November, 1900; also others that he had procured at Callion, and Siberia 

 Soak, Western Australia. I'rom Point Cloates, North-western Australia, Mr. Tom Carter 

 sent me a specimen for identification, and later on wrote as follows: — "Acanthiza uropygialis 

 is not uncommon inland in scrubs, and also in the upper boughs of white gums. They go in 

 small flocks, and utter a tinkling note." 



Dr. A. M. Morgan writes me: — "Acanthiza uropygialis is a very common bird in the mulga 

 scrubs to the north-west of Port Augusta, in South Australia. It was usually seen in small 

 flocks from eight to ten in number, they were very taine and could almost be caught by the 

 hand. I found a pair breeding on the 30th July, 1900. The nest was built in the mud wall of 

 a cook-house, within a few feet of an occupied house. .\ small space had been left beside one 

 of the strengthening upright posts, and in this cavity the nest was placed. Beyond the fact 

 that the nest was lined with feathers, I could not say how it was built, as it could luit be 

 examined without breaking down the wall, a proceeding to which the owner objected; I 

 however managed to extract one fresh egg." .\gain, m company with Dr. A. Chenery. this 

 species was found coinmon in eucalypti, myall, and mulga country during a trip made to the 

 Gawler Ranges from Port .'\ugusta in 1902, "a nest half-formed being found on the 8th August, 

 near Scrubby Hill, in the top of a hollow stump, giving the top of the stump a rounded 

 appearance." 



A nest now before me, taken by the late Mr. K. H. Bennett, is oval in form with a rounded 

 entrance near the top, and is constructed externally of dried grasses, strips of bark, a few small 

 thin herbaceous plant-stalks, and a little spiders' web; the inside being lined entirely with 

 feathers. Externally it measures four inches in height by three inches in breadth, and across 

 the entrance one inch and a quarter. It was placed in the hollow limb of a dead belar, about 

 five feet from the ground, and contained three fresh eggs. In the places this species selects for 

 a nesting-site, it resembles Geobasileus regidoidcs, and typically also Xcrophila leucopsis, a cleft in 

 a hollow limb being usually resorted to, and occasionally an aperture between two branches, or 

 the upright stems of two trees growing close to each other, in a piece of hanging curled bark as 

 noted by Mr. Nancarrow, and in the wall of a house by Dr. A. M. Morgan. The former also 

 observed these birds breeding at a height of from two to ninety feet from the ground. Those 

 found by the late Mr. K. II. I'.ennett were usually within ten feet and not at a higher altitude 

 than twenty feet. 



• Vict. Nat., Vol. iv , p. 206 (1888). 



