198



Mr. H. Stuart Dove,



them this winter, probably blowing them off their exposed roosting-

place during the night.


In spite of the bitter cold this winter, all my Long-tailed Tits

•are in fine condition, as they can always rely on a supply of suitable

food.


I feed them on my soft food (“ Life ”) to which is added a little

York cheese chopped finely and a few mealworms killed and cut into

«mall pieces, and a few gentles, and live fresh ant cocoons in summer

in place of mealworms.


My Gold-crested Wrens, seven in number, which I have had

since the middle of October last, are fed in the same way, and are in

splendid trim, and the cocks are singing one against the other nearly

all day.


The Long-tailed Tits become very tame in captivity, but they

require a large cage for exercise, and two or three birds should be

kept together, as it is their nature to associate in little flocks.


SOME TASMANIAN BIRDS' NESTS.*


By H. Stuart Dove, B.A.O.U., West Devonport (Tas.).


Birds’ nests may, for convenience, be classed under several

heads—the pensile, swung by the rim of the nest, in which the eggs,

and later the nestlings, are rocked by the winds; the suspended , in

which the structure is held at the sides only, without support from

below ; the common or supported type, in which the nest is placed

on a branch or in a fork or niche; and the ground nest.


A good example of the pensile style of building is the nest of

the White-eye {Zosterops dorsalis). These smart little birds are

familiar to all in gardens and orchards, or among the patches of

scrub by the beach, in their greenish and buff colouring, and with

their sharp, ringing call-note, as they dash in small companies

through the bushes. In New Zealand a common name for this

species is “ Blight-Bird,” on account of its beneficial habit of

patrolling the orchards in winter time and picking off the woolly

aphis and other pests. The swinging type of nest, such as is built

by this bird, is not common in temperate climes, being specially


* From ‘ The Emu ’ (with acknowledgments to the Editor).



