NASTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



153 



EfK/x. — Clutch, two ; coloui-, gi-eenish-wliitL-, marked all over with 

 reddish dots and spots, but closer together on the tiiicker end (Itamsay). 



Ohservatiuns. — Amongst the specimens collected at Cape York by 

 Mr. HaiTy Barnard, season 1896-7, for Mr. UutUoy Lc Souef and others, 

 was a male skin of the White-faced Kobin, a bird hitherto unrecorded 

 for Australia. It had only been previously known from New Guinea, 

 whence the nest and eggs in the Macleayan Museum, described by 

 Dr. Ramsay, c^ime. It is somewhat sti\ango that while Dr. Ramsay 

 gave careful dimensions for the nest, he omitted to do so for the eggs. 



126. — Smicuornis uuEviKoSTius, Gould. --(IGl) 

 SHORT-BILLED TRP]E TIT. 



Figure — Go\i\d. Birds of Australia, fol., vol. ii., pi. 103. 



Rtfercnct. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. iv., p 209. 



Previous Descriptions oj Eggs.— GovXA: Birds of Australia, Handbook, 



vol. i., p. 274 (1865); Ramsay : P. Z. S., p. 359 with fig. (1869) ; 



North: Austn. Mus. Cat., p. 100 (18S9). 



Gtiiyraphical Distribution. — South Queensland, New South Wales, 

 Victoria, South and West Australia. 



Nest. — Small aud rotuid, with a hooded side-entrauce ; composed of line 

 grass matted with spiders' webs and cocoons and a brown downy substance ; 

 lined inside with soft material — feathers, &c., and suspended amongst the 

 foliage of an overhanging branch or attached to twigs. Dimensions, about 

 3 inches in diameter ; entrance, '^ inch across. 



Eyijs. — Clutch, tlu-ee to four; nearly elliptical in form; texture of shell 

 fine ; siu'faec sUghtly glossy ; colour, brownish or vinaceous-buff, vdth a 

 dull belt of a darker shade round the apex. Dimensions in inches of a 

 proper clutch : (1) -6 x -44, (2) -6 x -44, (3) -56 x -4. (Plate 8.) 



Observations. — The Short-billed Smicromis, or Tree Tit, being one of 

 the feathered mites of the bush, escaped general notice, therefore many 

 inner secrets of its natui-al economy have not yet been revealed to 

 ornithologists. About all we have ascertained i-espeeting it is that it 

 possesses a very small round nest, with a very little entrance, wherein 

 it lays three or four tiny eggs, and that the birds singly or in small families 

 thread the leaves of the " forest rafters " high and low in search of minute 

 insects and their larvae, upon which they feed. When active, they utter 

 a rasping httlc note like a Tit's ( Aranthiza), while now aud again they 

 answer one another in a sweet simple call. 



The nests I have found (early in October, 1880) were in the BeucUgo 

 district. The Short-billed Tree Tit shows a preference for the more open 

 timber tracts of the interior pi'ovinces, and is found in all the States from 

 South Queenslaud round to Westenr Australia. Some authorities omit 

 the western territory, but it is recorded in Gould that Gilbert found the 

 bird in the York district. Through the goodness of Mr. Bemaa-d 



