NESTS AAV EGGS OF AUSIRAL/AN BIRDS. 235 



y est. — Inclined to oval, with side partly hooded near the top ; firmly 

 constructed of strips and line slu'cds of brownish bark, interwoven with 

 spiders' cocoons, cliiefly wliite ; lined inside with soft material. Usually 

 situated among the swaying branchlets of a small tree or sapUng. 

 Occasionally constmcted chiclly of grass, and placed in a tussock. In the 

 ranges, the uest is mostly made of moss, lined with vegetable hair (of fei-ns), 

 and feathers, and generally found swinging on the branchlet of a musk- 

 [tree. Dimousions : circumference, 11 to 12 inches, or breadth, 3 to 4 

 inches ; length, 4 to 5 inches ; entrance, \ inch across. 



Eijgs. — Clutch, three ; incUned to oval in shape ; textui-e very fine ; 

 surface glossy ; colour, pearly-white, more or less spotted, particularly in 

 the form of a zone rovmd the apex, with chestnut or reddish-brown and 

 pui-plish-brown. Dimensions in inches of a pair : (1) 7 x -49, (2) 69 x -5 ; 

 another pair, fairly spotted with a tUstinct zone roiuid the larger end : 

 (1) -TSx-Sl, (2) -Tx-S. 



Ohfervations. — This exceedingly lively Tit has a habitat co-extensive 

 with the Little Yellow Tit (A. nana), from South Queensland to South 

 AustraUa, but it dwells more in eastern forest parts, where it is a common 

 species. 



Four nests, with eggs. I distinctly remember finding, (1) in a busaria 

 bush, near Bacchus Marsh; (i!) in a tussock of grass, near Dandcnong 

 Creek; (3) at the Gippsland Lakes, Christmas, 1887, made of fine .strips 

 of reddish-brown bark, and warmly lined with opossum or wallaby fur and 

 feathers — Lyre Birds', PaiTots', &c., and containing three eggs and one of 

 the Bronze Cuckoo (C. phujanix) : and (4) in Mast Gully, Dandenongs, 

 22nd October, 1892, containing two eggs and one of the Bronze Cxickoo. 



In the ranges the nests are chiefly constructed of moss, lined with 

 the hair of ferns and feathers, and are usually found swinging on the 

 branchlet of a musk-tree. 



Dr. Ramsay, who years ago paid particular attention to the nests of 

 many of our Tits, states : " The nest of the Lineated Acanthiza is one of 

 the most beautiful of those of our Australian birds. It is a neat, oval, 

 compact and remarkably strong stnictiue, in length 4i to 5 inches through, 

 composed of fine shi-eds of stringy-bark, closely interwoven and frequently 

 ornamented with pieces of vvliite spiders' nests. It is warmly lined with 

 feathers, opossum fm-, or silky down from seed-pods of the native cotton 

 tree. The nest is suspended to a thin twig at the end of .some leafy bough 

 by the top, and the small opening about two inches down the side is 

 neatly covered with a hood which excludes both the sun and the rain. 

 Some of the nests arc without any ornament, others are decorated with 

 pieces of white paper, bark, or with gieen and white spiders' nests. Long 

 streamers of bleached sea- wood are also often used ; and when the nests arc 

 placed in gullies of the ranges, a beautiful bright-gieen string-Ukc hypniun 

 (moss) is employed. 



" We find this species of Acanthiza usually the first to commence 

 breeding. I have taken its eggs in July, but for the most part find them 

 from August to September. They are three in number, rather long, 

 and of a pinky-white, zoned at the larger end with minute freckles and 



