80 SOME USEFUL AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



these hairy caterpillars are the larvae of bag-shelter moths, often very common 

 in the scrub country, where they defoliate the wattle trees. It is probable 

 that these are the cast skins, and not the caterpillars themselves. 



The little Bell-bird (Manorhina melanophrys\ with its musical sharp 

 "clink, clink," is quite a different bird; it is confined to forest belts near 

 the coast, and is very local in its range. * It is a little olive-green and golden- 

 yellow honey-eater, and lives in small communities in the tops of the gum- 

 trees. 



The White-fronted Chat (Ephthianura albifrons Jardin and Selb.). 

 Gould's Handbook, vol. I, p. 374, No. 229 ; Leach's Bird Book, p. 133, No. 281. 



A denizen of our open plains and often numerous along the edges of water- 

 courses and lignum swamps, this semi-gregarious little bird has a wide range 

 over Australia and Tasmania, and though in the south, migratory, it is to be 

 found all the year round in some parts of the State. Providing water is 

 obtainable, it inhabits the saltbush plains of the west and north-west in the 

 early summer, and, in common with its two more brilliantly tinted relations, 

 is known as the " saltbush-bird." 



The White-fronted Chat builds a small cup-shaped nest composed of grass 

 and rootlets, lined with hair and feathers, and usually placed in a low bush 

 not far from the ground, often in the settled districts in dead thistles ; in thi& 

 well concealed nest she lays from three to four eggs. 



The male, with his white throat and black-banded chest (replaced by greyish- 

 brown and yellow in the less noticeable females), might at first sight be- 

 taken for a Sandpiper as it runs along, uttering its plaintive call-note, but it 

 can be easily distinguished on closer observation by its different build. It is 

 generally very active towards evening, and if surprised near its nest is very 

 cunning in pretending to be sick or wounded while leading one away in the: 

 opposite direction. 



The beautiful Orange-fronted Chat (E. aurifrons), with its rich, golden,, 

 orange-yellow head and breast, and the Red Chat (E. tricolor) are both rarer 

 birds than the White-fronted Chat, but in the early summer I have 

 often seen all three species in a day's drive across the saltbush plains near 

 Brewarrina. 



