292 TIMELIID.f:. 



passing into blackish-broicn on the apical portion, all but the central pair largely tipped ivith irhile 

 on the inner iveb and to afar less extent across the extreme tip of the outer web; lores and foreliead 

 tohite, bordered abo-ve by a narrow line of dark brown; anterior portion of cheeks icliite ; ear-coverts 

 brouni: chin dull white: remainder of the under surface dull white slightly washed wit/i f'ulvons, the 

 latter colour more pronounced on the abdomen; sides of the breast pale broivn; flanks fn/vons-bro/vn ; 

 under tail-coverts white tinged with fulvous ; bill black; legs arid feet broumislMack ; iris yelloxiish- 

 ichite. Total length in the jlesh 5 inches, wing 2 4'>, tail O-o, bill O-l, tarsus 0-7 . 



Adult kkmalb — Similar in plumage to the male. 



Distribution. — Southern Queensland, N'ew South Wales, \'ict()ria, South Australia, Central 

 Australia, Western Australia. 



fN the "Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum," ' Dr. II. (iadow places the genera 

 Xcrophila axid Sphcnostoma oi Cion\A, in the sub-family Farina', and remarks: — "Xcrophila 

 seems to form a link between the true Farina; and those forms which 1 propose to distinguish 

 as Austro-Parin;E." Neither of these genera should be included in the Farina^ Xcrophila, 

 although differing in having a deep cone-shaped bill, undoubtedly com^s nearest to the genus 

 Geobasileus, which it closely resembles in habits; Sphciiostoina appears to be an anomalous form, 

 far removed from the sub-family Parinae, of which Payiis major is the type, its nearest .\ustralian 

 allies being Oreoica cristata and Psophodes crepitans. Later on, Mr. M. C. Oberholser pointed 

 out. in the "Froceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia," I that the name 

 of Xcrophila had been preoccupied by Held, in 1837, for a genus of MoUusca. and proposed that 

 of Apheloccphala, of which Xcrophila Iciicopsis, Gould, is the type. 



In favourable situations, the present species is distributed o\cr the greater portion of the 

 southern half of the Australian continent. In New South Wales it is strictly an inland species, 

 but in Victoria, and South and Western Australia it is also found near the coast. Open forest 

 country, and plains intersected with belts of Callitris, or scrubby undergrowth, are its usual 

 haunts, but it is of an extremely sociable disposition and may be often seen about farms and 

 outbuildings. I found it tolerably numerous in the neighbourhood of the Macquarie River, 

 in ;\ugust, moving about in flocks numbering from eight to twenty individuals, and nearly 

 always on the ground searching for insects and their larva', which constitute its usual food. It 

 is chiefly terrestrial in its habits, and is e.xceedingly tame, merely flying on to the nearest tree 

 or fence when too closely approached, and descending on to the ground again immediately one 

 has passed. At Dubbo, where I first observed this species, it was feeding on the grassy sward 

 in company with Geobasileus chrysorrhous. It is known in many parts of New South Wales as 

 the Squeaker. 



The nest is a large dome-shaped structure, with an entrance in the side or top; outwardly 

 it is composed of strips of soft bark and grasses, and is lined with feathers, fur, or other soft 

 material. It varies in size according to the position in which it is built, an average one taken 

 from a hollow branch of a dead mulga measuring externally eight inches in length by four 

 inches in breadth, and across the entrance one inch and a half. It is usually built in a 

 hollow branch or hole in the trunk of a small tree. Mortice-holes in the posts of stock-yard 

 fences, and the interstices between the thick sticks forming the bottom of the nests of the 

 Wedge-tailed Eagle, are also favourite situations, and occasionally it is built in the branches of 

 a low spreading shrub, h'requently it resorts to dwellings and outliouses, constructing its nest 

 in the spouting or between the roof and the ceiling. .\ny favourable situation under cover is 

 availed of as a nesting-place by these sociable little birds, consequently they are sometimes 

 found in curious places. On Wattagoona Station, near Louth, a pair built in the spout of a 



• Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. viii., pp. 73-74 (1883). 

 t Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad., i8.jg, p. 214. 



