^''';,Jg"-] Dove, Biyds at Essendon. 67 



north in springtime, stay with us during the warm months, 

 then go north again to more genial winter cHmes ; still others, 

 such as the " Greenie" Honey-eater and the Blue Wren, we have, 

 like the poor, always with us. 



The Reed-Warbler {AcrocepJialus austnilis, Gould), which 

 makes its home in the thick vegetation surrounding the ponds, 

 is a very plain brown and grey individual, but its sweet notes 

 more than atone for any lack of gay colours in its plumage ; in 

 fact, we may well call it the Nightingale of the South. 

 Besides chanting at frequent intervals during the day, it may be 

 heard also on warm evenings long after dark. The nest, like a 

 deep cup in shape, is usually bound to the stems of three or four 

 tall reeds at the height of a foot or two above the water-line, 

 and the brown-blotched and spotted eggs repose on a soft lining 

 at the bottom of this cup in perfect safety, whatever gale may 

 blow across the water. Such a situation among the reeds is 

 chosen in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, but the exception 

 came to light when I was searching some shrubs by the water- 

 side, and found a Reed-Warbler's home perched up in a fork 

 8 feet from the ground in the imported bush Spannamiia 

 africana ; the nest contained three fresh eggs. Never before or 

 since have I seen the Warbler's home in such an elevated 

 position, all others in the locality being placed only a foot or 

 two above the water among the reed-stems. 



Our handsome and useful ally, the Magpie-Lark {Grallimx 

 picata, Lath.), is very much on the increase in this district. 

 During the summer of 1906 I found the queer mud nests, two 

 in number, shaped like saucepans without handles, placed on 

 horizontal branches of the weeping-willow within a few yards of 

 each other. During the present autumn between twenty and 

 thirty individuals could be seen each evening winging their way 

 to roost in the same locality where the nests had been, after 

 spending the day feeding in moist places. 



The White-backed Magpie {Gyiiuiorhina leuconota, Gould), 

 may be seen in small companies in the fields hereabouts, 

 engaged in its useful task of assisting the farmer to keep in 

 check his insect foes. The tameness of this handsome forager, 

 and his delightful flute-like notes, make him a general favourite. 

 No Hawk, and very {^\v other birds, are allowed about the 

 domain which a pair of Magpies has chosen for a home, and it 

 is most amusing to watch the pertinacity with which this self- 

 constituted constable will chase away intruders, endeavouring 

 always to rise above the foe and strike downwards at his back. 

 He is always successful in intimidating these trespassers upon 

 his domain, even when they are Hawks twice his size, and by 

 his pluck and pertinacity soon puts them at a safe distance from 

 his home. 



Several times during the summer of 1906-7 did I see the 



