2b LITTLER, Notes on Some Hi yds Peculiar to Tasmania. \ Km T ", 



List July 



This is mostly employed as an alarm or call note. When first 

 I heard this note I could not make out from what species of bird 

 it emanated, it being so different from any heard before. At 

 length I traced it to a Summer-Bird perched on the summit of 

 a lofty tree. The notes uttered during the breeding season are 

 soft and somewhat sweet. They vary greatly, sometimes resem- 

 bling a cooing sound. Lastly, there are the notes in general use. 

 They are hard to describe, but if once heard would never be 

 mistaken for those of another species. They are very peculiar, 

 and not on the whole unpleasing. When on the wing soft 

 whirring notes are uttered. The flight of the Summer-Bird is 

 peculiar. Progress is made in an undulating line, the bird 

 rising and falling in regular waves. As it reaches the top of 

 each imaginary wave the wings are folded, the momentum 

 attained carrying it into the trough of another wave ; the air 

 is then smartly beaten by the wings, which action carries the 

 bird to the top of the next wave, and so on. It is by no means 

 possessed of strong wing power ; the flight can at no time be 

 called rapid. 



Dusky Fantail (Rhipidura diemenensis). — This species is the 

 insular form of the White-shafted Fantail (R. albiscapd), which 

 it resembles closely. To most people it is familiar, either under 

 the name of " Cranky Fan " or " Crazy Fantail." It is fairly 

 evenly distributed throughout the island, being, however, more 

 plentiful in some districts than in others. Generally described, 

 this bird has the upper surface black, the under surface buff, 

 a crescent-shaped white mark over the eye, the bases of the 

 primaries and secondaries and tips of the tail feathers white, as 

 are also the chin and throat. The female differs very slightly 

 in appearance. The nest is a beautiful and marvellous piece of 

 workmanship. Those who have had the pleasure of handling 

 a finished specimen could not but be struck with admiration 

 for the skill displayed by the little architects. It is usually 

 situated a few feet from the ground, rather thick scrub being 

 preferred, and is saddled on a naked horizontal twig. In shape 

 it resembles a wine-glass with the base of the stem broken off. 

 The tail-like appendage extends beneath the twig on which the 

 nest is placed. I have seen many nests situated some twenty 

 feet from the ground in warm gullies thickly grown with dog- 

 wood and other saplings. When a stream is conveniently handy, 

 the nest is placed on a twig overhanging it. The materials 

 employed in its construction are fine dry grass, shreds of fine 

 bark, and long fibrous green moss, the whole being covered 

 exteriorily with matted spider's web, giving it a dirty-grey 

 appearance. The interior lining consists of very fine rootlets, 

 grass, or the long hair from the bases of fern fronds. One nest 

 of this species in my possession is composed entirely of dry grass, 

 lined with hair from fern fronds ; another is composed entirely 

 of long, fibrous green moss, lined with fine grass. The dimensions 

 pi the latter nest are as follow : — Circumference, 7^ in. ; diameter, 



