THE WHITE-SHAFTED FANTAIL. 



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247 



The Lanceolate Honey-eater (Plectorhynchus lanceolatus). 



bird, and is very deep, so that when the mother is sitting on her 

 eggs, or brooding over her young, she is obliged to pack herself 

 away very carefully, her tail projecting at one side of the nest 

 and her head at the other. 



Our last example of the Australian pensile nests is one which 

 is made by the White-shafted Fantail (Ehipidura albica), a 

 native of Yan Dieman's Land, and the southern and western por- 

 tions of Australia. It is rather a pretty bird, being boldly marked 

 with black and white, and is remarkable for the fact that the 

 shafts and tips of the tail-feathers are pure white, the central 

 feathers only excepted. It derives its popular name of Fantail 

 from its habit of spreading its tail like a fan while descending, 

 and as the tail is very broad, the action has a really remarkable 

 effect. 



The nest of this bird is of a figure not very easy to describe, 

 but an idea of it may be formed from a common wine-strainer, 

 with a very long and straight spout. The nest is attached to a 

 branch rather below the middle of the cup, so that the long spout 

 hangs down like a tail, quite independent of the bough. What 



