OF VICTORIA. 75 



takes place in September, and the house is generally placed 

 within three or four feet of the ground, occasionally in a 

 thistle, but more often in some small bush. The period of 

 incubation is 14 days, and the young fly from the nest on 

 the eighth to tenth day, though sometimes remaining to 

 the fourteenth. The brood of M. gouldi, the closely allied 

 species, is usually three, consisting of one male and two 

 females. 



The following notes, though applying definitely to M. 

 gouldi, practically pertain also to M. cyaneiis : — 



Mr. Graham observed for me that more than one 

 adult male will attend the brood of nestlings. Three 

 nests of young were brought from the forest and placed 

 in three cages somewhat apart. Each nest had its 

 female, which, in one case, was attended by three males, 

 in the second two, and in the third one, all helping in the 

 task of feeding the young. In the first-mentioned case this 

 was observed before the nest was removed, and was con- 

 tinued for fourteen days after the removal to the new 

 quarters, where the feeding was done through the wires. 

 Considering the large number of female wrens, it seems 

 probable that young females pass the first year without 

 breeding. Unfortunately, broods of both species suflter 

 much from the depredations of foxes. M. goiddi is hatched 

 out on the fifteenth day from the time of the laying of the 

 last egg. The eyes open on the sixth day, the wings are 

 feathered and fairly fledged on the seventh to eighth days. 

 The young birds are short-tailed when leaving the nest, the 

 feathers rarely exceeding one inch in length. At the end 

 of the first month the tail seems to have attained its full 

 length. Young wrens are then able to catch flies and 

 otherwise provide themselves with food, though they are 

 still fed by the parents for another month or six weeks. 



