538 Mr. J. C. McLean on some 
I had often tried to attract the attention of these little 
birds, but was never successful, until, one day in October, 
chancing to make a scraping noise at my tent-door, I was 
surprised to hear a faint rattling note, and found the male, 
closely followed by the female, within a foot of me. They 
were both much excited and their twitching little wings were 
drooped much lower than usual. 
I had expected to find them breeding early in the spring, 
but, save perhaps for a slight shyness, I could detect no 
signs of nesting in their manner at that time, and it was not 
until the last few days of my stay that a pair was observed 
carrying material into a network of small roots at the top 
of a steep rocky face over a creek in felled bush. I had 
watched this pair for months, and, even now that I had 
found their nesting-place, their general movements did not 
betray the fact that they were breeding. Both birds were 
carrying material and entering the overhanging roots, but 
their visits were very infrequent. J] fancy some considerable 
time must elapse between the start and the completion of 
the nest. I was forced to take it on October 12th, when 
it appeared complete, but was empty, and as it was a matter 
of impossibility to photograph it in situ, I had to remove 
the nest to another spot to do so, ue getting a picture of 
the surroundings. 
It was placed about eight inches in amidst a network of 
roots, with the base resting on the damp mould, and was not 
discernible from the outside. Over it and the roots lay 
the butt of a felled sapling, which projected some inches 
outwards and afforded a momentary resting-place ere the 
birds slipped in under it to their nest. On emerging they 
invariably darted suddenly out from directly under this 
limb, and flew some distance up or down the creek before 
alighting in the felled stuff. While taking the nest, I 
never saw the birds, but once heard the rattling note close 
to me. 
As a detailed description of the nest of Acanthidositia 
chloris has not, I believe, been published, the following 
particulars may not be out of place:—Judging from 
