INSESSORES. 505 



Moderately-sized trees, particularly CasuarincB and Banksice, 

 thinly scattered over grassy plains and the crowns and sides 

 of low hills, are its usual places of resort. In Western 

 Australia it enters the gardens and commits considerable 

 havoc among the fruit-trees, particularly figs, of the seeds of 

 which it appears to be very fond. It also feeds upon insects, 

 which are principally sought for among the branches ; but it 

 frequently seeks for them and small seeds on the ground, 

 when it hops around the boles and beneath the branches of 

 the trees in a most lively manner. 



Its natural notes are full, clear, and loud, and may be heard 

 at a considerable distance. In South Australia I heard it in 

 full song in the midst of winter, when it was one of the 

 shiest birds of the country. 



It is exceedingly pugnacious in disposition, often fighting 

 with the Wattle Birds {AntliochcdrcB), and other species even 

 larger than those. 



The breeding-season commences in August and terminates 

 in December. The nest is a frail, round, cup-shaped structure, 

 the materials of which vary in different situations ; those ob- 

 served by me in New South Wales being composed of fine 

 dried stalks of annuals thinly lined with fibrous roots w^oven 

 together with spiders' webs, and suspended by the rim to 

 two or three fine twigs near the centre of the tree ; on the 

 other hand, those observed by Gilbert in Western Australia 

 w^ere formed of green grasses, which become white and wiry 

 when dry, matted together with the hair of kangaroos or 

 opossums, lined with fine grasses and the down of flowers, 

 and placed in a thick scrubby bush at about three feet from 

 the ground. 



The eggs are usually two, but occasionally three in number, 

 of a light yellowish buff", thickly freckled with small indistinct 

 reddish brown marks ; or of a nearly uniform fleshy buff" with- 

 out spots or markings, but of a deeper tint at the larger end j 

 their medium length is eleven lines, and breadth eight lines. 



