62 THE USEFUL BIRDS 



the young before they leave the nest. The best reference 

 plate of this species is to be found in Diggles's " Birds of 

 AustraUa." 



This restless bird has quite a different series of notes from 

 the one previously mentioned, the calls being sharp, high, 

 regular, metalHc ; moreover, it associates in flocks in the 

 eucalypti, flying quickly and with a less jerky motion than 

 A. chrysorrhoa. 



The position of the compact and artful nest varies from a 

 bracken, 18 inches from the ground, to a sapling, with occa- 

 sionally a hedge as an environment. The architecture will 

 only vary in the material, and feathers, where obtainable, 

 wdll form a favourable inner wall. 



One of my friends tells nie of four nests observed by him- 

 self in a forest, which were built, so far as the main portion 

 was concerned, of sheep's wool and grass, and rabbit's fur for 

 the internal lining. In suburban districts the soft bark of 

 trees is largely used, with feathers for lining. 



The eggs are laid on each alternate day, three being the 

 usual number for a sitting — rarely four. 



The -time of incubation occupies 18 days, and the time from 

 the breaking of the shell to the departure from the nest 19 or 

 20 days. The young are very vigorous, and almost equal 

 their parents in the strength of their first flight. 



Mr, Geo. Graham has written to me of a fact showing 

 evident persistence on the part of a pair of birds to rear a 

 family. The first brood was breakfasted on by a fox. The 

 second clutch of three eggs did not hatch out on the sixteenth 

 day of sitting, so a third clutch of equal number was placed 

 above these, some lining material having first been placed over 

 the infertile eggs. These hatched out on the eighteenth day 

 from the laying of last egg. 



Nest. — Dome-shaped, side entrance ; suspended in growing 

 bracken fern or grass, or in the loose bark of the trunk of a 



