574 MR. RAMSAY ON THE FOSTERPARENTS OF CUCKOOS. [Dec. 13, 



ferent. It is of an oblong form, and placed among the topmost twigs 

 of some bushy shrub, composed of red shreds of stringy bark and 

 grasses, and often beautifully decorated with green mosses and lichens, 

 and lined with native cotton-tree down, feathers, or fine grasses. 

 The entrance, which is about 1|- inch from the top, having its edges 

 but roughly finished oft', and not covered by auy hood, is 1 inch in 

 width. The Yellow Acanthiza shows a decided preference for the 

 tops of the native tea-trees ; but its nest may also be found in vari- 

 ous other trees and shrubs, but always placed among the outside 

 twigs. We have taken nests from a species of Acacia overhanging 

 the creeks and rivers. Sometimes they are wholly composed of fine 

 strips of stringy bark, which, when new, give them a reddish- brown 

 appearance. At other times they are composed of dry grass, a great 

 quantity of white cobweb being used in all cases. The total length 

 of the nest of A. nana is 3 inches, by 2\ in breadth, being somewhat 

 narrower at the bottom. The eggs are three in number, from -f^ t° 

 ^i of an inch in length and yL in breadth, strongly blotched, 

 dotted, or freckled with dark dull reddish brown, inclining to cho- 

 colate in some, to red in others, and having a few dots of dull lilac 

 towards the larger end. 



In some specimens the markings form a zone on the thick end ; 

 in others they are equally dispersed over the whole surface, and take 

 the form of irregular blotches. The birds may be found breeding 

 in September and the three following months, and are frequently the 

 fosterparents of the Bronze Cuckoo. 



3. The Scrub-Acanthiza. Acanthiza pusilla, Gould's Birds 

 of Australia, iii. pi. 53. 



To complete the list of Acanthizas I may make a few remarks upon 

 the present species ; but I am afraid I cannot add much to the stock 

 of knowledge already given in Mr. Gould's valuable ' Handbook' to 

 his ' Birds of Australia.' 



A lover of the scrubs and thick bushes, this species, although 

 plentiful, is not so often met with as the other members of its genus. 

 In its habits it seems to be intermediate between Geobasileus and 

 the true Acanthiza, being frequently seen on the ground as well as 

 in the trees. I have never noticed it mounting high among the 

 branches, nor does it appear to like thinly wooded districts, showing 

 a decided preference for the brushwood and edges of scrubs. Upou 

 every occasion that we have discovered its nest it has been placed 

 within a few inches of the ground. One I have at present before 

 me is suspended to the underside of a fern (Pteris aquilina) : it is a 

 closely interwoven, dome-shaped structure, in form closely resembling 

 that of A. lineata, but differs from it in the outside being made as 

 rough as possible, with coarse pieces of strong bark and leaves of 

 grasses, which hang down and stick out from it in various directions ; 

 it is composed chiefly of stringy bark and the white paper-like bark 

 of the tea-tree, lined with cotton-tree down and feathers ; length 

 4 inches, by 3 in breadth. The eggs, three in number, have a pure- 

 white ground, zoned at the larger end with freckles of light reddish 



