1000 Agricultwral Journal of Victoria. 



THE YELLOWTAIL TOMTIT. 



Acanthiza chrysoyrhou (Quoy and Gaim), 



By C. French, F.L.S., F.E.S. 



This little bird^ so well known to over}- grower, orchardist imd 

 farmer, is a most valuable insect destroyer, killing out, as it does, 

 vast numbers of insect pests, and is found in nearly every ])art of 

 Victoria. It is a very sociable bird, inhabiting public parks and 

 gardens near the city, building and rearing its yuug in the prickly 

 acacia hedges fA. ariiiata) , also in pine, Araucaria, Jje])tospermum 

 and other trees. The nest is suspended, dome-shajied, with a small 

 side entrance, outwardly composed of pieces of grass, cocoons of the 

 so-called tarantula (Vocco)iia) and other spiders, pieces of rags, 

 twigs of various plants, rootlets, &c., and lined inside with feathers, 

 cotton-wool, and, in some instances, with rabbit fur and other soft 

 substances. Many nests have a kind of dome-sliaped opening on the 

 top, in which the male bird is supposed to sleep Avhilst the female 

 is sitting on the eggs. The small Cuckoo, the Bronze, often deposits 

 its eggs in theYellowtail's nest. The Yellowtail is an early breeder, 

 nests and eggs having been observed by Mr. C. French, jun., as early 

 as May in the Fawkner and other parks near the city. Nests are 

 also frequently found attached underneath nests of the White-backed 

 Crow Shrike (Magpie). On the Werribee plains, in the she-oak 

 trees (Casuarina) , are many crows' nests and occasionally placed under 

 these large stick nests, are nests of the Yellowtails, also nests of 

 another valuable insectivorous bird, the White-faced Xerophila. The 

 Yellowtail's eggs are mostly pure white, but sometimes have a few 

 light reddish spots, in some instances almost forming a zone, not 

 unlike the markings on eggs of the Blue Wren or Superb Warbler. 

 Eggs, usually three or four for a sitting. According to Mi'. A. J. 

 Campbell, this species of Acanthiza is also found in Queensland, 

 New South Wales, South and West Australia, and Tasmania. 



Gould states in his work " The Jlircls of Australia," vol. L, jjage 

 375, that the sexes are alike in plumage, and may be thus 

 described : — 



" Forehead black, with a spot of w-hite at the tip of each feather ; 

 cheek, throat, and a line from the nostrils over each eye, greyish 

 white ; chest and under surface yellowish white, passing into light 

 olive-brown on the flanks ; upper surface and wings, olive-brown ; 

 rump and upper tail coverts, bright citron-yellow ; base of the tail 

 feather white, tinged with yellow ; the external margin of the outer 

 feathers, and the tips of all, brownish-grey, the central portion, 

 blackish-brown ; bill and feet, blackish-brown ; irides, very light 

 grey." 



