INSESSORES. 273 



Sp.161. SMICRORNIS BREVIROSTRIS, Gould. 



Short-billed Smicrornis. 



Psilopus brevirostris, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc, part v. p. 147. ■ 

 Geah-ter-butf Aborigines of the mountain districts of Western Aus- 

 tralia. 



Smicrornis brevirostris, Gould, Birds of Australia, foL, vol. ii. 

 pi. 103. 



This bird is a constant inhabitant of the leafy branches of 

 the Eucalypti, and resorts alike to those of a dwarf stature and 

 those of the loftiest growth. While searching for insects, in 

 which it is incessantly engaged, it displays all the scrutinizing 

 habits of the Pari or Tits, clinging about the finest twigs 

 of the outermost branches, prying underneath and above the 

 leaves and among the flowers, uttering all the while or very 

 frequently a low simple song. I found it abundant in every 

 part of South Australia I visited, particularly in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Adelaide and in the gullies of the ranges 

 skirting the belts of the Murray; in New South Wales it 

 was frequently seen at Yarrundi, and other parts of the 

 Upper Hunter district. Gilbert states that in Western 

 Australia he only met wdtli it in the York district, that it 

 was always seen on the branches of trees, where it feeds on 

 larvae and small insects, that its flight was of very short 

 duration, merely flitting from tree to tree, and that its note is 

 a weak twitter, a good deal resembling that of the Geobasileus 

 chrymrrhom. 



It breeds in September and the two following months, and 

 forms a nest of the downy buds of plants, mixed with green 

 moss, the cocoons of spiders, &c., all matted and bound 

 together very firmly and closely with spiders' webs, and the 

 inside lined at the bottom with feathers; it is globular in 

 form, and is attached by the back part to an upright branch, 

 with the entrance in the side, the upper part over the 

 entrance being carried out to a point, which shades the 



r 



