368 '' BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



the two centre feathers is tinged with brown ; throat, chest, 

 and centre of the abdomen greyish white ; flanks and under 

 tail-coverts buffy white ; bill and feet black. 



Total length 3f inches ; bill ^ ; wing 2 ; tail If ; tarsi f . 



Sp. 223. ACANTHIZA APICALIS, GouM. 

 Western Acanthiza. 



Acanthiza apicalis, Gould in Proc. of ZooL Soc, part xv. p. 31. 

 Djoul-be-djool-bung, Aborigines of the lowland districts of Western 



Austraha. 

 Wren, Colonists of Swan River. 



Acanthiza apicalis, Gould, Birds of Australia, foL, vol. ill. pi. 57. 



This species, which is a native of Western Australia, is 

 distinguished from those immediately allied to it, A. dieme- 

 nensis and A. pusilla, by its large size, by its larger and 

 rounder tail, by the broad and distinct band of black which 

 crosses the tad-feathers near their extremities, and by their 

 being largely tipped with white. 



It occurs in great abundance in the colony of Western 

 Australia, both at Swan River and King George's Sound, and 

 is to be met with in all wooded situations. Like the other 

 members of the genus, it is active and sprightly in its actions, 

 leaping about from branch to branch with its tail erect, and 

 often repeating a note which very much resembles the sylla- 

 bles Gee-wo-wut. Its stomach is somewhat muscular, and the 

 food consists of small insects of various kinds. 



It breeds in September and October. The nest, which is 

 usually placed in a thickly-foliaged bush, or in a clump of the 

 Tea-tree, is of a domed form, wdth an entrance in the side, 

 and is composed of dried grasses and strips of Tea-tree bark, 

 and lined with feathers. The eggs are from three to five in 

 number, of a flesh-white, thickly freckled with reddish chest- 

 nut, the freckles becoming so numerous at the larger end as 



