INSESSORES. 371 



the Maluri. It feeds solely on minute insects of various 

 kinds, in searching for which it assumes the usual clinging 

 and prying positions of other insectivorous birds which seek 

 their food among the leaves and branches of shrubs and trees. 



It breeds in November ; the nest, which is of a domed 

 form, being placed in some low shrub, often in that of the 

 jam- wood, and composed of grasses lined with a few feathers. 



The eggs are five in number, and of a white colour, slightly 

 tinged with greenish grey; they measure seven and a half 

 lines long by five and a half lines broad. 



No visible difference is observable in the sexes. 



All the upper surface, wings, and tail olive-brown ; pri- 

 maries dark brown ; tail crossed by a broad band of brownish 

 black ; aU the under surface light buff"; irides greenish white ; 

 bill and feet black. 



Total length 3^ inches ; bill \ ; wing If j tail 1^ ; tarsi -^q. 



Sp. 226. ACANTHIZA NANA, %. and Horsf. 



Little Acanthiza. 



Dwarf Warbler, var. A, Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. viii. p. 134 ? 

 Acanthiza nana, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn, Trans., vol. xv. p, 226, 



Acanthiza nana, Gould, Birds of Australia, fol., vol. ill. pi. 60. 



This little bird, which is very generally distributed over the 

 colonies of New South Wales and South Australia, frequents 

 the extremities of the branches of the various trees, without, 

 so far as I could observe, evincing a partiality for any par- 

 ticular kind ; the CasuarincB on the banks of creeks, the 

 Emalypti of the plains, and the belts of Banksice being 

 equally resorted to by it. Minute insects constitute its sole 

 food, and in the capture of these it exhibited many lively 

 and varied actions, which strongly reminded me of those of 

 the Hegulus cristatiis of England. 



The nest is a neat domed structure with a small entrance 



2 B 2 



