!oc-" J Houiesfeads, Break-o'-day District, Tasmania. I^I 



cultivation, burning off, and clearing, but in some soils 

 saggy growth is, still provokingly persistent, though in 

 moderation it has its merits in shelter for lambs in the spring. 

 Where this favourite cover is removed the little Field-Wren 

 has taken to that provided by introduced growth such as hedges 

 of gorse, briar, broom, the thick rushy vegetation which 

 establishes itself on the margins of ditches or along old fences. 

 More interesting still is the abandonment of its shy nature, 

 as shown when flushed from the original growth of the 

 country. For, as an inhabitant of our lanes, hedges, and 

 evergreen fences, it is by no means a timid species, and when 

 affecting thoroughfares is to some extent a familiar roadside bird. 

 Here it reminds one of the Hedge-Sparrow {Accentor) in 

 England, although its wonderful agility as a ground bird is not 

 possessed by the latter species. It is very fond, too, of old road- 

 side fences, the base of which is lined with patchy undergrowth, 

 out of which it will dart to a top-rail or post and then quickly 

 disappear to a lower panel, darting to the ground and hopping 

 with lightning speed along the further side of the fence to a 

 clump of briar or rushes. Thus we have here an instance, in a 

 small degree, of the evolution of new or abnormal habits, which 

 have, in some instances, become so noteworthy in Australasia 

 and New Zealand. 



The nest of the Field-Wren is so artfully concealed that it is 

 rarely found by the ordinary bird-nester who does not know the 

 usual site and position of it. It is espcially difificult to find 

 when placed in sagg-tussocks {Xerotes). My son, Mr. R. W. 

 Legge, found a nest a few years ago in the dead branches of a 

 small prostrate briar bush, close to our high road, around which 

 herbage had grown up, affording concealment. Not possessing 

 any Tasmanian eggs of this species, I am unable to add to Mr. 

 Campbell's testimony that the insular egg is larger than the 

 mainland one, but it is very probable that our form may be 

 slightly more robust than the Victorian and lays normally a 

 larger egg.* 



The breeding season here extends over a long period. This 

 year a young bird was noticed in one of our lanes early in July. 

 Usually the young are not about before the end of August or 

 beginning of September on these uplands, but this is early, as 

 newly fledged individuals are about this month (December). 

 On the coast belts, where the bird much frequents the tussocky 

 hollows and stretches among sand dunes, the breeding season 

 appears to be mostly in the month of July. 



When flushed among the natural vegetation of the sheep-runs 

 the Bush Warbler rises at one's feet from among saggs or 

 thatch-grass {Poa ccsspitosa) and suddenly alights, darting 



* Mr. A J. North has described the mainland form as C, albiloris. See Victorian 

 Naturalist, vol. xi.\., p. I02 (1902).— Eus. 



