248 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



produced by a bird might easily be misled. Its mode of 

 flight is one of the most graceful and easy imaginable; it 

 rarely mounts high in flying from tree to tree, but moves 

 horizontally with its tail but little spread, and with a very 

 slight motion of the wings ; it is during this kind of flight 

 that it utters the harsh note above-mentioned — the grinding 

 note being only emitted during the graceful hovering mo- 

 tion, the object of which appears to be to attract the notice 

 of the insects beneath, for it invariably terminates in the 

 bird descending to the ground, picking up something, fly- 

 ing into a tree close by, and uttering its shrill and distinct 

 whistle." 



The months of September, October, and November consti- 

 tute the breeding-season. The nests observed by me in New 

 South Wales were rather neatly made, very similar to those 

 of Saiiloproda motacilloides, cup-shaped, and composed of 

 fine grasses matted together on the outside wdth cobwebs, 

 and lined with very fine fibrous roots and a few feathers ; 

 they were placed on horizontal branches frequently overhang- 

 ing water. The eggs, which are sometimes only two, but 

 mostly three in number, are dull white, distinctly zoned 

 round the centre with spots of chestnut and greyish brown, 

 the latter colour appearing as if beneath the surface of the 

 shell ; their medium length is nine lines and a half by seven 

 lines in breadth. The nests found by Gilbert in Western 

 Australia were remarkably neat and pretty, and were formed 

 of cobwebs, dried soft grasses, narrow strips of gum-tree 

 bark, the soft paper-like bark of the Melaleuca , &c., and 

 were usually lined with feathers or a fine wiry grass, and in 

 some instances horse-hair. The situations chosen for their 

 erection are the most difficult of access, being the upper side, 

 the extreme end, and the dead portion of a horizontal branch. 

 The bird is very reluctant to leave the nest, and will almost 

 suffer itself to be handled rather than desert its eggs. 



The sexes are very similar in plumage, but the female and 



