Nesi of the Tasmanian Tit. 421 



seen an Oriole's nest with a string carried around a leaf, 

 and another with a long looped string hanging free. All 

 such cases simply show that the bird was not master of 

 her material ; the trailing string is caught over the leaf or 

 branch, and both ends drawn in and fastened regardless of 

 what happened. Twice I have seen Cedar-birds {Ampelis 

 cedrorum) trying to carry away the strings which Orioles 

 had attached to the branches : instead of making any effort 

 to untie or unsnarl them in a human way, they simply 

 tugged at them, bringing their weight to bear, and tried 

 to fly away with the loose end/' — Burroughs, ' Ways of 

 Nature/ 1906, p. J246. 



Since coming to my present residence^ between the 

 Mersey and Den Rivers, in north-west Tasmania, I have 

 come across an instance in which a very considerable use of 

 string has been made by the native Tit (^Acanthiza diemen- 

 ensis). There is a small Stringy bark (Eucalyptus obliqua) 

 growing near the back of the cottage, and from a horizontal 

 branch of this tree depend some long pendulous branchlets, 

 much after the style of the drooping White Gum branchlets 

 [Eucalyptus vimmalis) so plentiful on this coast. Amid the 

 thick foliage of one of these branchlets, and about eight feet 

 from the ground, was placed the nest in question, a small 

 domed structure 4\ inches long by 3 inches across, with an 

 opening near the top which will just comfortably admit 

 one's forefinger. Dry grass and fine fibres are the principal 

 materials employed, with here and there a spider's cocoon or 

 dry leaf stuck on the exterior. But the remarkable point 

 about the structure is the way in which string has been 

 copiously employed, wound in and out among the other 

 material, and even brought round from the back and drawn 

 right across the front, so as to brace the nest in a masterly 

 manner. There is no evidence here of a blind, unreasoning 

 effort, a want of mastery over a new material ; either birds 

 have progressed in knowledge of the odds and ends of 

 civilization, or our Acanthiza possesses sharper wits than 

 the American Icterus. The string is even brought right 

 through the back of the nest to the interior, so as to form 



