I_j.8 Leggk, Location of Birds in the Vicinity of [ist^'jan. 



tion, showing the first stages of construction of the nests of this 

 Fantail and its congeners, are so well known that one need not 

 occupy space in their description. The materials, however, it 

 may be stated, vary according to the environment. In the 

 vicinity of buildings the tiny rootlets and fern-stalks and bents 

 of which the little domicile is constructed are so covered and 

 interwoven with spider webs that it is almost white. The nest 

 exhibited by the writer at the Congress of the A.O.U. in Hobart 

 last year was a typical example of this class, and constructed 

 less roughly and with a greater amount of solid weaving than a 

 forest-built structure as described in Campbell's book. Hair is 

 mingled with the minute rootlets and soft stalks which form the 

 lining, and sometimes a little wool, the sheep-shed being not 

 far from the plantations. 



So tame are these little birds that they will come in and out 

 of the sheds in pursuit of flies and insects while shearing is going 

 on close by. The eggs in the nest above mentioned were 

 incubated by the parent bird within 3 feet of the back of th^ 

 cane chair in which my invalid daughter sat for many days 

 during the last year of her life, which is the strangest instance 

 one could furnish of the exceedingly fearless and charmingly 

 familiar nature of these delightful little birds. In fact, there is 

 no doubt they suffer in this respect at the claws of the maraud- 

 ing house cat, against which one is compelled to vow vengeance 

 for such a crime. The eggs are nearly always three in number. 



A favourite situation in the forest is a bush overhanging a 

 stream, in which I have found it absolutely exposed in a box 

 bush. The tail-like appendage to the wineglass-shaped 

 structure appears to be intended to steady and balance it during 

 the early stages of construction — at least, that is the impression 

 in the writer's mind, and it is to be noted that Mr. Potts held 

 this idea {cf. Campbell, part i, p. 109). 



The period of incubation is from 8 to 10 days, as far as the 

 writer can judge by observation of the nests built here.* 



ACANTHIZA DIEMENENSIS (" Brown-tail," Brown-rumped Tit). 



This species, though usually affecting open paddocks, where 

 the timber is sparse, as well as the borders of tracts of bush 

 and forest, has of late years resorted to our shrubberies and 



Since writing the above note a beautiful nest discovered in my grounds proves 

 pretty conclusively that the oliject of the "wineglass stalk" beneath it is for 

 balance and stability It is built in the thickly branching ivy surrounding an old 

 eucalyptus trunk. Though cleverly affixed to a small branchlet, this is so weak 

 that the birds have extended an arm of the woven bark along the stems of two 

 adjoining leaves, and in addition have continued the "stalk" downward farther 

 than usual in order to steady the nest. The hen bird is sitting extraordinarily 

 close. I inadvertently placed my hand almost on the nest tJie other day, and could, 

 no doubt, have taken her from it. It is therefore no wonder these charming little 

 birds are sometimes killed by cats when choosing their home so close to human 

 habitations. 



