12 A. G. Campbell, Birds of North-Eastcrn Victoria. [,st juiy 



The Short-billed Tree-Tit {Suiicrornis brcvirostris) frequents 

 the thick scrubby growth, where its tiny round covered-in nest 

 may be found ; one was seen built in a pendulous branch not 4 

 feet from the ground. The White-throated Fly-eater (6^^ ;:;'^^;/g 

 albigularis) was recorded for the first time in Victoria from 

 this district on 4th Uctober, 1899, but simultaneous with 

 the announcement came another concerning the same species 

 being found at Western Port.* This bird soon attracts attention 

 by its remarkably loud and pleasing song. Several were seen 

 at Rutherglen, but no traces of nesting operations could be 

 found. A second species, however (/'j-^//^i5'^'-^ri/^c;/^ culicivora), 

 was discovered nesting, and its eggs (the first recorded for Eastern 

 Australia) were taken on 22nd September, 1899. Subsequently 

 no less than eleven clutches of eggs were procured from several 

 pairs of birds which were confined to a patch of second growth 

 timber about 100 acres in extent. Accompanying one clutch was 

 an egg of the Narrow-billed Cuckoo {C. bascxiis). The nests are 

 neatly built of soft bark and cobweb, ornamented with spiders' 

 cocoons and even bits of newspaper ; the tail-like appendage 

 characteristic of the species was found to vary in length from 

 2 to 6 inches. One of abnormal length measured wVi 

 inches. The birds themselves are greyish in colour, and have 

 not the gayness of the former species, with its olive back, yellow 

 breast, and white throat, but they have a song which, though 

 differing, is just as pleasing, and is remarkably loud for so small 

 a bird. During a visit to a patch of pine scrub some 20 miles 

 north of the Murray the Southern Fly-eaters were found at home 

 there also, and in the ironbark near Chiltern one solitary pair 

 was noted. The species does not appear to leave the district 

 during winter. 



The Blue Wren {Malunis cyaneiis), the White-shafted Fantail 

 {RJiipidura albiscapa), and the Black and White Fantail 

 \r. tricolor) are, as usual, among the commoner birds. 

 Specimens of the male Blue Wren were seen in August, and 

 again in February, undergoing the moult from the brown into 

 the blue livery for summer and vice versa. The Restless Fly- 

 catcher lyStsiira tuqiiieta) lives and breeds on the red gum and 

 box flats, while the Satin Flycatcher {Alyiaora nitidd) was noted 

 several times during winter. The Reed-Warbler {Acrocephaliis 

 australis) and the Grass-Bird {Mcgahiriis graviinms) are 

 essentially inhabitants of the reed-beds near water. The Little 

 Field-Wren {ChfJwnicola sagittatd) rejoices in the long grass 

 among brushwood and timber. 



The diminutive Little Tit {Acmithisa nana), the Striated Tit 

 {A. lineata), and the Chestnut-rumped Tit (A. uropygialis), are 

 co-partners with the Fly-eaters beforementioned of the small 



* Victorian Naturalist, vol. xvi.. No. 7, p. 1 14. 



