422 On the Nest of the Tasmanian Tit. 



part of the lining, the remainder of the lining consisting of 

 a soft woolly substance resembling cotton-wool. 



But the ingenuity of our little architects was not yet 

 exhausted. A long piece of fairly stout white string was 

 given a turn over a slender twig, then three or four turns 

 over a projection (which cariied two seed-vessels) from the 

 twig, then both ends were carried down and woven into the 

 dome, so that the nest was actually swinging by the string 

 from the branchlet above, although also receiving some 

 slight support from leafy twigs underneath, to which it was 

 not in any way attached. 



While in the forests of East Gippsland, Victoria, a 

 friend and myself obtained the nest of a Tit, probably 

 the Striated (Aca)ithiza lineata), which was swung in the 

 same way from a branchlet, but in this case was made 

 from fine strips or shreds of Stringybark, and the loop 

 by which it was suspended was of the same material. 

 Dr. Ramsay says that it is usual for A. lineata to suspend 

 its nest by the top to a thin twig at the end of some leafy 

 bough, also that many of the nests are ornamented on the 

 exterior with pieces of paper, bark, or green or white spider- 

 cocoons. In the case of our Tasmanian Tit, noted above, 

 it will be seen that there are certain similarities between 

 that particular nest and those of the mainland A. lineata, 

 viz., the suspension from a branchlet and the decoration 

 with spider-cocoons. It is, however, from my experience, 

 very unusual for the Tasmanian Tit to suspend its nest ; 

 I can recollect one other instance when I first came to the 

 island, the finding of an Acanthizd's dwelling suspended to 

 the underside of a dry drooping frond of the Fern Tree in 

 Table Cape forests. 



EXPLAN^ATION OF PLATE XIV. 



Nest of Acantliiza diemenensis. 



Fig. 1. Front view. Bound with string and suspended by the same 

 material from branchlet of Stringybark [Eucalyptus obliqua) at 

 "West Devonport, Tasmania. 



Fig. 2. Back view, shoAving the string used in the structure. 



