8 Batev, Bird-Life Sixty Years Ago. [ist^'juiy 



Rest, amongst other materials using clippings of insulator wires. Such 

 structures being a nuisance, they were destroyed. My son found a nest at 

 Woodend North placed on a tree stump, in a natural hollow. There we find 

 both Black-backed [G. tibicoi) and White-backed Magpies, In olden days 

 about Sunbury Magpies did not eat flesh meat ; now if the carcass of a sheep 

 is strychnined one is sure to find dead Magpies around it. About the 

 Sunbury country I have not known them to touch fruit of any description, 

 but Mr. Shaw says at Tandara, near Bendigo, they eat ripe figs. Hitherto 

 the only damage they did at Sunbury was to occasionally pull up sprouting 

 corn, and they only did so when the season was dry. Gyuinorhifia 

 leuconota is a bird remarkable in a number of ways. Much could be said 

 about it. I will confine myself to saying that much can be learnt from them 

 when kept in captivity. When fledglings are handled they void e.xcreta. A 

 pet Magpie kept by us stood in mortal terror of a slain hare or even its skin, 

 and, if we followed up the bird with one or the other, it began to excrete. 

 From that it is safe to assume that fear is the cause of young birds' behaviour 

 when pulled out of a nest. It is common enough to find oval-shaped balls 

 composed of the detritus of various insects. Once we thought such were 

 excrement, but one day our bird was seen to eject one of these balls from its 

 mouth. This bird had a wonderful memory. A hare was hung up in the 

 kitchen ; on seeing it she took a great fright, and ever after that never 

 entered that apartment without first making a careful scrutiny from the 

 door. With her clipped wing she managed to scramble up a quince tree to 

 roost. One moonlight night, hearing our pet screaming, I ran down the 

 garden, when she was found on the ground. Ever after that she would come 

 up to be placed on a cross beam in the kitchen or on the branch of a small 

 willow alongside a chimney. 



BUTCHER-BiRD {Ct'iicticus destructor). — Still visits, though never knew it 

 to nest with us. Saw nest near Lancefield, also young taken at Gisborne. 



Shrike-Tit {Falcunculiis frontaius). — This was a rare bird about Red- 

 stone Hill, but commoner in the box forests. 



Rked-W.^rf.lrr {Acroccphalits ausiralis). — Has always been a summer 

 visitor, and nests. 



White-throated Thickhead {Pachycephala guituralis). — Somewhat 

 rare, and never saw more than a single one at a time. 



Rufous-breasted Thickhead {Pachycephala rnjivcntris). — Not 

 common. I think it nests on our place. 



White-browed Tree-creeper {Cli)uactc7is Icucoplura). — Occasionally 

 by the creek. 



Brown Tree-creeper {Cliiuactcris sctnuiens). — In former days always 

 found with us, away from water, in the timber ; it has now been scattered 

 about the plains. One was in the habit of roosting in the butt of a green 

 tree hollowed out with fire. We caught it at night. I think it clung to 

 roost in an upright position. 



Orange-winged Trek-runner [Smdla chrysopiera). — A permanent in 

 1846 and for some years later, mostly in sheoaks in small flocks. A good 

 50 years have gone since this bird was seen, the trees having been removed. 



White-shouldered Caterpillar-eater {Lnlagc tricolor). — Can be 

 called rare. Generally a pair lived, and 1 think nested, in the box trees in 

 the valley where we lived. 



Spinebill {^Acanthorhynchiis tenuirostris). — We were resident a good 

 while on our station before a .Spinebill appeared. It was always uncommon 

 with us. While at fiisborne for two years I discovered its favourite haunt 

 was amongst blossoming heath. On examination I saw that in order to 

 extract honey it pierced the heath flowers just above their bases. 



