56 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



the Striated Acanthiza, but when it is associated with G. chrys- 

 orrhcea the two are also considered as one. The differences of 

 manner and markings are quite evident when once shown. Even 

 in the newly fledged of both species there is no room for a diffi- 

 culty, for the conspicuous markings of the adults are upon the 

 young before leaving the nest. The best reference plate of this 

 species is to be found in Diggles's " Birds of Australia." 



This restless bird has quite a different series of notes to the 

 previous one, the calls being sharp, high, regular, metallic, and it 

 associates in flocks in the eucalyptus, flying quickly, with a less 

 jerky motion than that of G. chrysorrlima. The position of the 

 compact and artful nest varies from a bracken 18 inches from the 

 ground to a sapling, with occasionally a hedge ?s an environment. 

 It is built according to circumstances but always upon the same 

 plan. The architecture will only vary in the material, and feathers 

 where obtainable will form a favourable inner wall. One of my 

 friends tells me of four nests observed by himself in a forest 

 near Camperdown, which were built, so far as the main portion 

 was concerned, with sheep's wool and grass, and rabbit's fur for 

 the internal lining. In our suburban districts the soft bark of 

 trees is largely used, with feathers. The eggs are laid each alternate 

 day and three is a usual number for a sitting, sometimes four. 

 The period of incubation is 18 days, and time from breaking of 

 shell to departure from nest 19 or 20 days, and, like the former 

 species, it is vigorous, and capable of first flight equal to that 

 made by the parents. 



Mr. George Graham, of the Heytesbury Forest, having more than 

 ordinary interest in nature, has written to me of a fact showing 

 evident persistence on the part of a pair of birds to rear a family. 

 The first brood was breakfasted on by a fox, which naturally left 

 nobody at home. The second clutch of three eggs would not 

 hatch out on the sixteenth day of sitting, so a third clutch of equal 

 number was placed upon these, with material between, which 

 hatched out on the eighteenth day from laying of latest eggs. 



Our next species, and the smallest member of its genus, is the 

 Striated Acanthiza, Acanthiza lineata, Gould, W.*, peculiar to 

 Tasmania and our continent. It is the well-known " Hanging 

 Tit," from its manner of scampering through the " gum " foliage 

 most of its time in search of food, by being suspended from 

 leaves at the extremities of the branches. The Melbourne dis- 

 trict contains three groups of " tits," in popular nomenclature — 

 one found in the trees, which includes this species, A. pusilla, 

 and A. nana; a second preferring the ground, its representative 

 being the Chthonicola, or " Ground Tit," by local designation ; 

 and a third of " go-betweens," represented by the Buff and 

 Yellow-rumped Geobasileus. The nest of A. lineata is well woven, 

 small in comparison with the unwieldly mass of G. chrysorrhcea, 



