THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



building. They are locally called Starlings, and have very 

 much the appearance of those birds when flying. The trees 

 are, as a rule, very difficult to climb. The ground under them 

 is generally covered with the dead seeds of various fruits, 

 and also infested with the very small red Scrub Ticks, which 

 come up one's legs in hundreds, and soon make their presence 

 felt by burrowing into the skin and raising an irritating lump, 

 yet they are so small that they are often difficult to detect. 

 When I was taking photographs under a large tree, my black 

 companions carefully watched me from a distance, not wishing to 

 suffer the inconvenience I afterwards did from these insects. On 

 several occasions, in the open country, we flushed the Least 

 Swamp Quail, Excalfatoria australis, generally in pairs, and in 

 the scrub the Chestnut-backed Quail, Turnix castanotus, but 

 very few of the latter were seen. The curious nests of the Great- 

 billed Gerygone, or Flood Bird, Gerygone magnirostris, were 

 noticed hanging from slender creepers over the streams, they 

 were sometimes high up, and at other times only a few feet above 

 the water. They get their name from the nests having the 

 appearance of a long bunch of rubbish left by a receding flood ; 

 these are about two feet long, with the nest at the lower end — a 

 wonderful structure for such a tiny bird to build. The Yellow- 

 throated Sericornis, Sericornis citreogularis, builds its large 

 hanging nest in the thickest part of the scrub, and we found 

 several. One was composed chiefly of moss and skeleton leaves 

 it had picked up out of a dry waterhole; the combination was 

 very pretty. The Large-billed Sericornis, S. magnirostris, was 

 also seen in the scrub, and its nest and eggs on two occasions 

 found. We found also several nests of a Gerygone in the scrub, 

 but curiously enough they were always built within a foot or so of 

 a hornet's nest, and we had to drive the hornets away with smoke 

 before venturing to touch the nest. The birds must have some 

 reason for building so close to them, and it would be interesting 

 to find out what that reason is. The Large-headed Robins, 

 Eopsaltria capito, were noticed and the nest and eggs found. 

 This species was found in the scrub at the foot of the ranges, 

 but another variety, Eopsaltria nana was found higher up 

 towards the tops of the mountains ; both build somewhat 

 similar nests, and generally on a Lawyer Palm, not far from 

 the ground; the structure is very pretty and compact, gener- 

 ally having moss on the outside. The Pied Grallinas, Grallina 

 picata, were seen occasionally in the open country, but 

 nowhere were they numerous. Several kinds of Flycatchers 

 were noticed in the scrub and open country. A Frilled- 

 necked Flycatcher, Arses, sp., was seen in the scrub on 

 several occasions, its black and white plumage being quickly 

 noticed ; a specimen was secured, and it has since proved new to 



