Vol. VII. 

 1907 



] B.\TEV, Bird-Life Sixty Years Ago. 



once found its domed nest with tiny brownish eggs. It was a fluttering 

 feeder, kept on with a chirp sounding like " Dit dit," and then for such a 

 mite it called out shrilly " Chee-wee-sher." In or about 1855 it left, and 

 though investigating closely 1 have failed to locate the Ijird since. Not in 

 Gisborne, Bulla, or Newham Shires. 



Yellow-rumpkd Tit {Acanthiza chrysorrhoa) From 1S46 to 1906 has 

 held its own, but to my mind is not so numerous as it was formerly. It 

 appears to court the society of man, seeing that it is given to nest in garden 

 shrubs. It is famous for destroying aphis and small insects in and out of 

 gardens. 



Brown Tir {Acatit/iiza piisilla). — This bird was always with us, found 

 amongst eucalyp.ts, but it is only occasionally seen now. 



Little Tit {Acanthiza tia?ia).—V\le gave a bird the name of Chit Chit 

 to distinguish it from Acanthiza pnsilla. It was probably this species. 



Little Field-Wren {Chthonicola sagitfata). — Came very rarely, only 

 in seasons when creek flats were well grassed ; rose with a song, and if post 

 or dead tree was near pitched on it. Evidently it bred with us. Have not 

 seen it for years. 



Scrub-Wren {Scricomis oscu/ans).— Has always been a permanent of 

 Jackson's Creek, and before the gold-diggings saw one feeding a bulky young 

 bird. Calling my father's attention, on beholding the fledgling he decided 

 it was a Cuckoo. 



Spotted Ground-Bird {Cinclo.wiua punctatuvi). — Found at Mt. 

 William, near Lancefield, and in Newham Shire. It was styled the Ground- 

 Pigeon. 



Babbler {Pomatorhinus temporalis). — A party lived in Glencoe sheoaks. 

 This bird had its habitat in sheoak country, for it was ne\er found where 

 eucalypts were the prevailing timber. Since the almost total destruction 

 of sheoaks this bird has taken to eucalyptian tracts. Noted it in Brodie's 

 Forest ; the last time was on Emu Creek, in 1901, and about same period 

 a small party was observed on the highlands at Mickleham, near Deep 

 Creek. 



Striated Field-Wren {Calnmanthus fuliginosus). — This natty bird, 

 with greenish-tinted plumage, cocked tail, shy habits, and most agreeable 

 warblmg voice, has ever been a permanent. Found of old on part of run 

 called " Brock's Bottom," where there were some loose rocks, with a few 

 bushes. Apparently it has increased, for now we find it about stone walls, 

 in which it takes refuge when alarmed. Never under any circumstances 

 has it been seen close to watercourses. 



White- fronted Chat {liphthianura albifrons). 



White-backet:) Magpie {Gy/nnorhina /caconota).— Has always held its 

 own. Up to the time the Sunbury Industrial Schools were established 

 3,000 or more birds used to come to roost in a clump of box trees close 

 to our house. The boys at the school began snaring them, as the result of 

 which they were greatly thinned out. They were often shot off their perches 

 at night by visitors. On bright moonlight nights they camped in low trees ; 

 when nights were dark they selected tall ones. In summer, if a morning 

 proved hot, numbers would remain all day under the shade, singing merrily 

 and playing with each other. In the afternoon they went to the open 

 country to the west of the creek. In later times, as a fair amount of tree- 

 planting has been done, they live more dispersedly than formerly. A pair 

 nested in a tree beneath a bedroom window of the Diggers' Rest Hotel. 

 The landlord never disturbed them ; but one time a thoughtless person 

 from Melbourne, seeing two young birds in the garden, shot them. I 

 am informed that Magpies started to build on semaphores at Diggers' 



