OF VICTORIA. 29 



arranged. The birds gather the constructive material in 

 the vicinity of the place chosen for the nest, and seem, 

 ingly do not care to move away from it. 



A typical example is easily noticed in the case where a 

 fence divides an orchard from a gorse field, for, on the 

 orchard side, 10 yards from the fence, you will find nests 

 constructed wholly of fruit-tree fibrous rootlets, while on the 

 gorse side each nest is composed of grasses and twigs that 

 can be gathered amongst the bushes. There are, of course, 

 exceptions. 



Three characters of combinative material appear to be 

 used, though they pertain possibly more to local influences, 

 and may have but little weight in a wide study of the 

 Artamidai : — 1. In orchards, rootlets of the trees, internally 

 fine, but with coarse mantling. 2. In lightly-timbered 

 paddocks, grass stems principally, chlorophyll-bearing 

 before completion, occasionally a few horsehairs. 3. In 

 well-timbered country, twigs of the trees, with a finer 

 internal lining of linear leaves. 



The bowls of all the nests are similar in dimensions, but 

 those of the complete structure may vary occasionally to 

 twice the normal measurements. The positions, as with 

 the previous species, generally range about 6 feet, and often 

 enough only 2 feet, from the ground. Nests are placed 

 higher in occasional places here, but, with the exception of 

 Finus insignis and a few species of eucalypti, the rule is, 

 low to mother earth. The two species build promiscuously, 

 favouring a break of low scrubs, which is used for this 

 purpose. The nests are placed in prominent positions, each 

 species as a whole keeping together, but intermixed in both 

 cases with several of each other incubating in their midst. 



By the middle of December many of each species were 

 preparing homesteads for the third brood, and they seldom 



