GEOBASILEUS. 



•283 



VELLOW-HUMPKD THOKN-DI I.L. 



legs and feel dark yreyish-black ; iris greyish tvhile. Total length in the flesh Jf-5 inches, tving J-3, 

 tail I'G, hill I'Jf-, tarsus 0-7. 



Adult female — Similar in plnmage to the male. 



Distribution. — Queensland, New South Wales, \'ictoria, Siiuth Australia, Central Australia, 

 Western Australia, Tasmania. 



/"I^llli present species was one of the novelties discovered by the French naturalists, 



-L MM. Quoy and Gaimard, during the "Voyage de 1' Astrolabe" in Australian waters 



in 1826-29, under the command of Captain :\I. J. Dumont D'Urville. The precise locality 



where the type was obtained is not recorded in the original description, but, with the exception 



of the extreme northern and north-western 

 portions of the continent, it is distributed 

 in fa\ourable situations throughout most 

 parts of Australia and Tasmania. It is 

 usually met with in pairs or small docks, 

 according to the season, in open forest lands 

 or where there is only a light undergrowth, as 

 it passes a great portion of its time in search 

 of insects on the ground. In the cooler parts 

 of the States, hedge-di\ided pasture-lands are 

 its favourite haunts, but it also frequents 

 orchards and vineyards, and is found in most 

 public parks and gardens, even in the centre 

 of large and busy cities. It is one of the most familiar and ever-trustful little birds which 

 frequent the haunts of man; its sweet and varied notes, combined with its well-known insect 

 destroying habits, rendering it a general favourite with everyone. When resorting to orchards 

 and gardens, it may be seen busy amongst the branches of fruit trees or shrubs, exploring the 

 twigs and buds, and ridding them of aphides and other insect pests. If disturbed, it rarely Hies 

 to any long distance, but merely flits from tree to tree, uttering at the same time a short but 

 not unmusical "chip, chip." It is during flight that the brilliant colour of the rump and upper 

 tail-coverts is displayed to advantage. 



Specimens obtained by :\Ir. George Masters at King George's Sound, and by Mr. Edwin 

 Ashby near Perth, \\'estern Australia, have the crown of the head darker and the under 

 surface paler than eastern examples. Specimens from Tasmania are larger and richer in 

 colour; while those from Central Australia have that faded and washed-out appearance 

 common to many species inhabiting hot and arid districts. 



The nest is certainly unique as regards bird architecture in Australia. It is in reality 

 a double nest, consisting of a dome-shaped structure, with a narrow entrance in the side, 

 used by the female as a receptacle for her eggs and for the purposes of incubation ; and on 

 top of this edifice, a roughly formed open cup-shaped nest which is generally believed to 

 be resorted to by the male at night. Outwardly it is formed of dried grasses, dead flowering 

 plant stalks, cobwebs, spider's egg-bags, wool, or other soft material, all matted together; the 

 inside of the domed lower portion being thickly lined with fine dried grass, cow-hair, opossum 

 or rabbit fur, and feathers. About pastoral lands, wool is largely used both externally and 

 internally in its construction. An average nest measures over all seven inches and a half in 

 length, the domed portion of the structure measuring five inches in height by four inches and a 

 quarter in breadth, and across the entrance one inch; the cup-like cavity on the top is two inches 

 and a quarter in diameter by one inch and a half in depth. The nests, however, vary much in 

 size, and I have seen them over a foot in length. .V remarkable one I found, built in the bushy 

 end of a drooping pine branch, in the Sydney Domain, on the 19th August, 1889, consisted 



