THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 163 



On the heavily-timbered mountain slopes, the Butcher-bird, 

 Cracticus destructor, was found building high up in the slender 

 boughs of the Stringybark, Eucalyptus obliqua. The young birds 

 fly well on leaving the nest. One in captivity, now about ten 

 weeks old, whistles splendidly, mimicking the notes and tunes of 

 a Rosella perfectly. In feeding it often tries to wedge small 

 pieces of meat between the bars of the cage, and failing this, 

 places them on some sharp nail points projecting from the wall. 



A few Orioles, Oriolus viridis, were encountered amongst the 

 tall eucalypts. The only nest taken was suspended in a 

 Peppermint Gum, E. amygdalina, about thirty-five feet from the 

 ground. 



In November the loosely-built nests of the Wood-Swallow, 

 Artamus sordidus, were fairly numerous in the smaller gums ; 

 more rarely the Red Wattle-bird, Acanthochcera caruncidata, was 

 found building, whilst in the hollows of many trees the Brown 

 Kingfisher, Dacelo yigas, the Sacred Kingfisher, Halcyon sanctus, 

 and the Rosella, Platycercus eximius, were rearing their broods. 



Occasionally we startled a few Bronze-winged Pigeons, Phaps 

 chalcoptera, from the vicinity of a Native Cherry (Exocarpus), or 

 beside a fallen log found the two eggs of the Spotted Ground- 

 bird, Cinclosoma punctatum, though the bird itself was seldom 

 seen. Frequenting the open grassy spaces of the valley, such 

 species as the Stubble Quail, Coturnix pectoralis, the Ground 

 Lark, Anthus australis, and the little Grass-Warbler, Cisticola 

 exilis, are not uncommon, and small flocks of the Red-browed 

 Finch, J^gintha temporalis, flit continually about the bushes, 

 nesting in the Tea-tree scrub, Melaleuca ericijolia. 



Three species of Acanthizae — viz, the Brown Tit, A. pusilla, 

 the Striated Tit, A. lineata, and the Yellow-rumped Tit, A. 

 chrysorrhoa — breed here in considerable numbers, their dome- 

 shaped nests being suspended from bracken fronds or in small 

 shrubs and saplings. The Superb Warbler, Malurus superbus, is 

 an equally abundant species; but probably the commonest bird 

 in the district is the Yellow-breasted Shrike-Robin, Eopsaltria 

 australis, considerably more than one hundred nests being seen, 

 mostly built low down in Hazel or Tea-tree, but one pair had 

 selected the horizontal bough of a eucalypt, fully forty feet high, 

 on which to build. 



Five species of fly-catchers were met with. The small cobweb- 

 covered nests of the White-shafted Fantail, Rhipidura albiscapa, 

 are very plentiful, and many pairs of the Black and White Fantail, 

 a. tricolor, built on branches overhanging the water. The 

 Rufous Fantail, Ji. rufifrons, is a much scarcer bird, only one 

 nest being found. The Restless Flycatcher, Sisura inquieta, 

 and the Brown Flycatcher, Microeca fascinans, are comparatively 

 common, though their nests are difficult to discover. 



