DECEMBER 



55 



snuggling together in their cosy cradle, every now and then 

 opening wide their yellow gapes at the prospect of a feed. 



But though there are so many young abroad, numbers of 

 the birds are still building, some for the second or third time 

 this season. In the forest country the leaden fly-catcher, 

 which came south more than a month ago, has a beautiful 

 cup-shaped nest, set in a dead branch of a tall tree. Another 

 migratory bird, the reed-warbler, one of our sweetest singers, 

 is also breeding, but I must go to the reed-beds to find it. In 

 I'liose same reed-beds will be found the wonderful little nest of 

 the grass-warbler, an industrious little bird, which often covers 

 its oval nest, made of fine grass, spiders' webs, and cocoons, 

 with a big sheltering leaf stitched on with a silky substance 

 in a marvellous manner. But the reed-beds are a long way 

 from here-, and 1 must return to my own district. 



Here, the golden glory of the bush has departed, and now 

 white is the reigning colour. One of the tea-trees is profuse- 

 ly in flower, covering whole paddocks ; in its blossoms the 

 beetles love to harbour, and they shine like enamel, in the 

 morning sun. Some gum trees also add their white blossom 

 to the harmony, and the creamy flowers of the dwarf apple are 

 bursting out from their red woolly buds. Then, of course, 

 there are the most prized of all white wild flowers, the flannel 

 flowers, which just now are out in profusion, and are to be found 

 in sandy soil amongst the rocks, which make a telling back- 

 ground for the white stars. Close by grow two other highly 



