THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 5? 



made of dry grass, lined with brown and white hair of the cow. 

 This is typical here, but the divergence is as great in the material 

 as with other species. The typical dome form, with side entrance, 

 never varies, according to my knowledge of the matter. Only 

 once have I been able to watch the times of laying of eggs, and 

 then they were deposited on each successive day. 



The Little Brown Acanthiza, A pusilla, Lath., W.*, is a bird you 

 will often enough find located in the Melaleuca, and although it 

 is very small and difficult of observation in the thick foliage of 

 creek or upland timber, its pleasant and varied voice will help 

 you to trace its whereabouts. The notes are liquid and musical, 

 pitched with variety, and extensive, heard to advantage when one 

 is near, for its mellow voice is not strong enough to penetrate 

 beyond the distance of a few yards. In a single case communi- 

 cated to me by the naturalist already referred to, the time of 

 laying of three eggs was forty-eight hours apart, and the young re- 

 mained in the nest eighteen days. From five nests of this species 

 a fox extracted the young birds, and it has become a pest to the 

 observer and to young Laughing Jackasses, Dacelo yigas, which it 

 will snatch from low stumps. 



The Little Acanthiza, A. nana, Vig. and Hors., should perhaps 

 be recorded as an occasional visitor rather than as a resident of 

 the district. From its close general resemblance to the other 

 Acanthizse, it is difficult to distinguish among the foliage. It 

 has a note different from the others, and is less numerous than in 

 the Wimmera district. 



We now come to a group of four Warblers, two of which, 

 of different genera, Cisticola and Calamoherpe, are scantily 

 represented, while one of the other two, Malurus, is abundant in 

 the distiict. The three genera are characterized by different 

 habits. The Grass Warbler (Cisticola), is found only in rank 

 grass, where trees are absent ; the Reed Warbler (Calamoherpe), 

 is found only among reeds, which in the district are comparatively 

 scarce ; while the Superb Warblers (Malurus) are generally found 

 in high grass and undergrowth among timber. 



The Rufous-headed Grass Warbler, Cisticola rujicepv, Gould, 

 is the smallest of these particular warblers, and is of a tawny 

 colour, with linear dark variations. Walking through lon^, rank 

 grass, with large, brownish butterflies rising and flitting in the fore- 

 ground, one is quite uncertain whether the bird is a butterfly or 

 not as it gently and slowly leaves the grass stems for a tardy flight 

 of some fifty yards, but as it reaches the clear horizon the difference 

 is noted. Flitting high in air, its melodious warble, though having 

 only two notes, does not seem to jar upon our ears, however often 

 repeated. 



While Dr. Ramsay's " List of Australian Birds " gives us four 

 distinct species of this genus, the " British Museum Catalogue," 



