dI. Vll. 



lOoS 



1 Homesteads, Break-o'-day Distyict, Tasmania. l_|.g 



plantations to build. They frequent by choice the latter, as 

 also the belts of firs, in which trees their large and cleverly 

 constructed nest is sometimes built at the base of a limb, resting 

 against the trunk. In so doing the little architects, like human 

 builders, do not always allow for the strain of wind pressure, 

 and the October gales blow the nests out of their position, 

 wrecking them with their contents. 



The Brown-tail builds on these plains in October, some few 

 nests being built as early as September. Soft grasses mixed with 

 fir needles, " bents," and stalks form the outer materials of the 

 globular structure, lined first with wool and rabbit-fur, and then 

 finished internally with feathers alone. Such was the con- 

 struction of a nest exhibited at the Hobart Congress last year, 

 which was built in a Pimcs insigjns tree ; and a similar one 

 has been examined in a Wellingtonia by the writer. This 

 latter highly umbrageous conifer forms an ideal situation for the 

 nest of this species. 



It may be mentioned here that the Forest Tit {A. eiuingi), 

 which an A.O.U. member was so fortunate as to procure on 

 Mt. Wellington last year, never leaves its native jungle for the 

 open. It is found, as I have before pointed out, in mixed beech 

 and eucalyptus forests and similar thick scrub in the tiers in 

 eastern Tasmania, and, according to the writer's experience, 

 consorts in pairs, and not in little parties like the species under 

 notice. 



ACANTHIZA CHRVSURRHOA (" Yellow-tail "). 



This little bird, like its congener last named, frequents the 

 shelter provided by the homestead plantations, as also the 

 gardens and shrubberies, in the breeding season. Like other 

 foregoing species mentioned in these notes, their numbers have 

 increased materially as the exotic shelter in the paddocks 

 increased. It has bred in a variety of situations of late years. 

 Recently nests have been built in a Wellingtonia, about 15 feet 

 from the ground, the nest being at the base of a branch, and 

 against the main stem ; also in a Cnpressiis torulosa, its domicile 

 beautifully suspended at the end of a limb, between the pendent 

 branchlets, which gave it shelter from the winds ; and in a young 

 stone pine, the nest being fixed between the thickly-growing 

 limbs, which entirely concealed it. The tree had been nibbled 

 by horses, and assumed a " bushy " habit, forming excellent 

 shelter for the little breeding home. The parent bird is very 

 tame when occupying its nest, perching on a limb close to it and 

 sitting motionless while one is examining it. It will, however, 

 desert the nest if the finger is inserted into it before the eggs are 

 laid. 



All the nests found here have the second cavity situated above 

 the egg-receptacle. Of the various theories advanced in regard 



