OF VICTORIA. 47 



many midway. The western form of this genus has with 

 time and new conditions in all probability difterentiated 

 itself from the eastern species known to us in Victoria. 

 It is an, active and powerful bird, quite acrobatic while 

 amongst its element. It passes the bulk of its time upon 

 the uppermost branches of eucalypti, say 50 feet high, and 

 keeps in subjection that portion of coleopterous life which 

 is not sought for by most other birds. It checks the 

 fecundity upon the " sky-raking " branches very much as 

 the small tits do upon the peripheral parts of the lower- 

 most branches. One scours the tops of the aged eucalypti, 

 the other {Acanlhiza lineala) the bottoms of the young 

 eucalypti. The bill of the Shrike-Tit is very strong, by 

 means of which it is a furious biter ; such an instrument 

 proving very fatal to that destructive pest the cockchafer 

 beetle. The erected crest and animation of the sprightly 

 bird, as it climbs or clings to the branches of the trees, just 

 suits it. The uncommonness of the species lies more with 

 the nest than its owner. There always is a difficulty in the 

 procuration of it. First you must find it ; then you are to 

 secure it. Two nests, taken in Peppermint Gums {E. 

 antygdalina) some forty feet from the ground, in the con- 

 secutive years 1893-4, and in the same paddock, were 

 obtained by a young member of the Surrey Hills Boys' 

 Field Olub. I am indebted to him for both finds, each 

 containing three eggs. One was found on the 4th of 

 December, 1894, and the other in the same month of 1893. 

 Had not the sitting bird continued to sing while on the 

 nest, it would not have been observed. This is the only 

 time I ever heard the Shrike-Tit sing. It is a very silent 

 bird. 



Nest. — A truncated sphere, beautifully built of grasses 

 covered with cobweb. It is placed in the three-pronged 



