BIRDS OF OUR BUSH 



that of the Buff-tailed Tit on page 137. For a consider- 

 able time we were unaware of the presence of two different 

 species, although we must certainly have found nests of 

 both. Two further points of variation, not apparent in 

 the pictures, are the slight difference in colour of the tail 

 patches and the less sweet and more metallic note of the 

 Buff-tailed species. The Tom-tit is entirely insectivorous, 

 and hunts over the ground in small flocks of half-a-dozen or 

 so. During the nesting season, however, each pair follows 

 that natural inclination of most birds to possess a little 

 territory of its own. 



The bird photographed had its cumbersome nest tucked 

 snugly away in an isolated and thickly-grown furze bush 

 near the Darebin Creek. Numerous attempts to photo- 

 graph the owners of other nests did not provide us with 

 much ground for hope of success, and the early August 

 wind and weather did their best to make our task more 

 difficult. Happily, the nest contained young ones but re- 

 cently hatched, and under such circumstances most birds 

 become unusually daring. Still, it was only after quite 

 an hour of indecision and after camera and tripod had 

 blown over about six times that our "subjects" con- 

 descended to "sit." Just how many times during this 

 period we succeeded in counting the regulation number 

 before speaking the angry word, we do not now remember. 

 Photography on a windy day is most exasperating. The 

 result in this case appears calm enough, but the camera 

 has lied. It was impossible even to hold the nest and 

 surrounding spurs tolerably still with the aid of string. 

 The spur on which the bird is standing danced in and out 

 of the picture in fine style, and it was indeed fortunate that 

 it occupied such a satisfactory position at the moment of 

 the exposure. 



It often happens that the absorbing interest of some 

 subject near at hand is overlooked on account of its very 

 familiarity. The habits of the Tom-tit are an instance 

 of such a state of affairs. So far as we know, no ornitholo- 

 gist has devoted any considerable time to this common- 

 place little bird, notwithstanding the fact that there are 

 many unexplained peculiarities in its habits. Many people 

 know the cumbersome and untidy, though cosy, nest of the 

 species, yet few have made any serious attempt to account 

 for the presence of the open structure almost invariably 



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