1 62, Australasian Ornithologists' Union. \ j? 1 ?" 



interesting, chiefly on account of the re-establishment of the long- 

 lost Ewing Tit (Acanthiza ewingi). Colonel Legge, in his 

 introductory remarks to " A Systematic List of Tasmanian Birds " 

 (Proc. Roy. Soc., Tasmania, 1 900-1), hinted that further research 

 might possibly lead to the re-discovery of Ewing Tit, which 

 some authorities considered was identicalwith the well-known 

 " Brown-tail " (A. diemenensis). In The Emu (vol. ii., p. 203, 

 1903) Mr. A. J. Campbell drew attention to a Tit his son had 

 collected on King Island the previous November, which closely 

 resembled the description of the missing ewingi. Then, during 

 this present Congress, Mr. A. Morton, Curator of the Tasmanian 

 Museum, produced two reference skins — very distinct birds, 

 and labelled respectively A. ewingi and A. diemenensis. The 

 fact of these being different was fully confirmed by the two kinds 

 having been collected near Hobart by some members of the 

 Union, who exhibited them in the flesh during the Congress. 



Colonel Legge has furnished a separate note about the two 

 species.* The King Island Tit before mentioned has also turned 

 out to be a ewingi, which is evidently not an uncommon species, 

 because members of the Congress collected it also in the neighbour- 

 hood of Launceston. Local collectors now say they used to 

 differentiate this Tit from the familiar " Brown- tail " by the 

 name of the " Creek " Tit, because of its habit of constructing 

 a small mossy nest near to or overhanging the water of creeks or 

 gullies, whereas the common Tasmanian Tit (A. diemenensis) 

 usually builds in more open situations. 



The Scrub-Tit or Scrub-Wren (Acantkornis magna), by reason 

 of its scarceness in Australian Museums, was much sought after 

 for reference specimens. Several pairs were secured and nests 

 obtained. One nestf (the subject of the illustration) was built 

 in the fork, about 2 feet from the ground, of a dead moss and 

 fungus-covered hazel, in thick musk scrub. Another nest was 

 found near a watercourse, about 6 feet from the ground, supported 

 in the drooping, dead frondage clinging to a tree-fern stem. 

 This nest was constructed' outwardly of strips of bark, dead fronds, 

 rootlets, and a few bits of green moss, and well lined with a thick 

 ply of brownish fern-down and a few feathers, a little fur and 

 thistle-down, the whole nest, of course, being globular in shape, 

 with a side entrance. It was most artfully concealed, and con- 

 tained a pair of typical eggs and an egg of the Fan-tailed Cuckoo 

 (Cacomantis flabelh ' [or mis), all quite fresh. By the character of 

 the eggs of the Scrub-Tit (almost white, with a few red speckles 

 on the apex) the bird is clearly not a Sericornis. However, the 

 bird itself resembles very much a Sericornis , only its bill is slightly 

 curved instead of being straight and perky. 



Honey-eaters are always attractive, but four if not five species 

 peculiar to Tasmania (including some of the islands in Bass Strait) 

 were of more than ordinary interest to the visiting members of 



* See page 179, this issue. + Now in the National Museum, Melbourne. 



