2^0 ^^£S2^S AXD EGGS Of AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



grasses ; lined inside with feathers or other soft material. Usually 

 situated in a low bush or small tree, such as jam-wood (Acacia), 

 banksia, &c. 



s. — Clutch, three ; elongated in form or tapering towards one end ; 

 texture of shell very fine ; surface shghtly glossy ; colour, warmish or 

 pinkish-white freckled with reddish-brown and pui-plish-browu, the markings 

 coalescing and forming a distinct belt round the apex. Dimensions in 

 inches of a pair: (1) 68 x -47, (2) 66 x -46. 



Observations. — This plain-coloured bird is one of the two south-western 

 species of Acanthizas, but jjerhaps is a dweller of the more interior tracts 

 and ranges farther to the eastward than the A. apical m, Gould having 

 collected it on small islands at the mouths of Spencer and St. Vincent 

 Gulfs. 



Gould mentions the nests and eggs, but I think there is a mistake about 

 the latter being five in number. There are in the Australian Museum 

 a nest and eggs collected by Mr. George Masters in West Australia, 1868, 

 which are described in the Catalogue of that institution. The nest 

 measiu'es 4 inches in length by 3 inches in breadth, the entrance, being 

 oval, 1^ inches across by 1 inch the opposite way. It is a dome- 

 shaped stiiicture, composed of dried wiry stems of a drosera (sundew 

 plant), and the flowering portions of banksia cones, spiders' webs, &c., 

 all matted together, and lined inside with white downy seeds of a 

 composite plant. 



The notes of the Plain-coloiued Tit reminded me much of those of the 

 Yellow-tailed Tit. 



Breeding months probably the same as A. apiralis. 



185. — AcANTHizA pusiLLA, White. — (220) 

 BROWN TIT. 



Figure. — Gould: Birds of Australia, fol., vol. iii., pi. 53. 

 Reference. -Ca.1. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. vii., p. 294. 

 Prcoivus Descriptions of Eggs. — Gould : Birds of Australia (1848^, also 

 Handbook, vol. i., p. 365 (18651; Ramsay: P. Z S., p. 574 



(1866). 



Geagraphical Distrihution. — Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, 

 and South Austraha. 



Xest. — Small, oval, with side entrance partly spouted or hooded ; com- 

 posed chiefly of fine grass, with a few spiders' cocoons added ; lined inside 

 with fur and feathers. Usually situated in low scrub, ferns, or attached 

 to branchlets of a small tree. Dimensions : breadth, 3 inches ; length, 

 4|^ inches ; entrance, 1 inch across. 



