Neighbourhood of Sydney, New South Wales. 179 



building-places. The nests are usually situated a few inches 

 from the ground, and are cup-shaped, and placed upon a strong 

 framework of twigs, and neatly lined with grass, hair, &c. 

 I have frequently found them among the dead leafy tops of a 

 fallen Eucalyptus which has been left by the wood-cutters when 

 clearing a piece of new ground. 



The eggs of this bird are usually three, but sometimes four, in 

 number, from 6| to 7 lines long by 5 broad, beautifully white, 

 some spotted, and others irregularly marked, with bright deep- 

 reddish brown at the larger end, where, in some, the spots form an 

 indistinct zone. In other specimens the spots are crowded at the 

 top, and very sparingly sprinkled on the other parts of the egg. 



These birds easily betray the position of the nest or young, by 

 their anxiety and attempts to draw one from the spot by feigning 

 broken wings, and by lying struggling upon the ground as if in 

 a fit. They have two broods (and perhaps more) in the year, 

 after which the young accompany the parent birds to feed, 

 generally on the salt marshy grounds near the water's edge. 

 About Botany and the Parramatta River, upon the borders of 

 the Hexham swamps, &c. &c., they are plentiful. 



These birds give most decided preference to the open, half- 

 cleared patches of land. I never found more than four or six 

 together, doubtless the offspring of one pair; still it is not 

 unusual to find them in pairs only. As far as I am aware, they 

 have but one (very plaintive) note, emitted chiefly when flying 

 or when the nest is approached. 



3. The Green-backed Oriole (Oriolus viridis, Gould, B. 

 Austr. iv. pi. 13). 



During the winter months these birds may be found in flocks, 

 from five to twenty in number, feeding upon various cultivated 

 and wild fruits, and often in company with the Fruit-eating Mag- 

 pies, the note of which they often imitate. They frequent nearly 

 all the orchards and gardens about Sydney, and especially if they 

 contain any of the Native Olive or Moreton Bay fig-trees in fruit, 

 to which they seem very partial. I have known them, though 

 seemingly with great reluctance, eat the berries of the White 

 Cedar. Towards the beginning of September (about Sydney) 



