32 SOME USEFUL AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



suburban gardens to the far western scrubs ; indeed, wherever there is water, 

 one or more species may be found. The best place to study the Blue Wren is 

 in a sheltered suburban garden ; here a day seldom passes without a little 

 family flitting and creeping along through the trellis and shrubs, and hopping 

 over the lawns in search of tiny moths, aphids, scale, and the many forms of 

 soft-bodied insects that infest our garden plants. The difference in colour of 

 the brilliant blue and black adult cock bird, the dull-coloured female, and the 

 young birds, is well denned. For a short time, when he is moulting, the 

 -cock bird loses much of his showy appearance, but it is regained with his 

 new coat. It is a well-established fact that the cock Blue Wren is a feathered 

 mormon, and entertains a retinue of wives. 



The nest of the Blue Wren is dome-shaped, with a small rounded hole on 

 its side. It is usually composed of grass lined with hair, bits of wool, or 

 feathers, and is placed in a low bush or tuft of grass. The eggs, usually four 

 in number, are a delicate pink, and are banded on the larger end with 

 reddish-brown spots. 



The Yellow-rumped Tit (Acmthiza chrysorrhoa). 



Gould's Handbook, vol. I, p. 374, No. 229; Leach's Bird Book, p. 143, No. 293. 

 The Yellow-rumped Tit is a typical representative of the genus 

 Acanthiza, which contains twelve species peculiar to Australia. It is known 

 as the Tomtit to many school children, but in Tasmania is popularly known 

 as the Yellow-tail. It ranges over the greater part of Australia, usually 

 going in small flocks, flying low, and giving a low chirping cry. 



This little bird has the remarkable habit of constructing a double house, 

 for on the top of its somewhat loosely woven oval structure it builds a 

 circular rimmed dish like a second shallow nest. Naturalists have never 

 .given any satisfactory reason for this peculiar departure from the usual oval 

 nest, but it has been suggested that it is a resting-place for the male bird, 

 and perhaps for the mother bird when off" duty. 



The eggs, usually four in n>umber, are somewhat elongate, pure-white, but 

 sometimes slightly spotted. Campbell and other observers have recorded 

 that these little birds have the curious habit of frequently building their nests 

 beneath the larger nests of magpies, crows, and hawks. The little Bronze 

 Ouckoo often imposes her eggs upon the Tomtit, and selects her comfortable 

 nest as the home for her parasitic fledgling. These dainty little birds, 

 though insignificant in size, are plentiful in gardens where they are not 

 molested. As they are always at work, they must save a very large number 

 of flowering plants from the smaller plant-infesting insects. 



This is the same bird as that referred to as the " Yellow-rumped Thorn- 

 bill " (Geobasileus chrysorrhous) in the list of birds protected in New South 

 Wales, referred to on page 29 of the Agricultural Gazette, January, 1915. 



