366 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



whole of which country it is rather numerously dispersed, 

 and where it inhabits forests and open woodlands, but evinces 

 a preference to low and shrub-like trees rather than to those 

 of a higher growth. It also frequents the gardens and shrub- 

 beries of the colonists ; it is consequently one of the com- 

 monest and one of the best-known birds of the island. Active 

 and sprightly in its actions, it pries about the foliage with the 

 most scrutinizing care in search of insects and their larva:^, 

 which constitute its sole food. It frequently utters a rather 

 loud harsh note, which is sometimes changed for a more full 

 and clear strain ; still its vocal powers are by no means con- 

 spicuous. It has a much more lengthened bill, and is alto- 

 gether a larger bird than the Acanthiza pusilla, whose habitat 

 seems restricted to the south-eastern portion of the Austra- 

 lian continent. The nest of this little bird, which is usually 

 built in a low shrub, is rather a dense structure, being formed 

 of grasses, fibrous roots, and the inner bark of trees, warmly 

 lined with feathers ; it is of a globular form, with a small hole 

 in the side near the top for an entrance. The eggs are four 

 or five in number, of a beautiful pearly bluish white, sprinkled 

 and spotted with reddish brown. In some instances the spots 

 form a zone round the larger end. The medium length of the 

 eggs is eight lines and a half, and breadth six lines. 



Independently of the task of incubating its own offspring, 

 this species very frequently has to perform the additional 

 labour of hatching and rearing the young of the Bronze Cuckoo 

 {Chrysococcyx lucidus), whose single egg or young is often 

 found in the nest. It is a very early breeder, commencing in 

 August and continuing until January, during which period 

 two or three broods are generally reared by each pair. 



The plumage of the sexes is alike, and their size and 

 general appearance so similar, that without the aid of dissec- 

 tion it was impossible to distinguish them. 



Forehead rufous brown, each feather with a crescent-shaped 

 mark of bright buff near its extremity and tipped with black- 



