24 6 AUSTRALIAN AND TASMANIAN ANIMALS 



same group, pi*esents considerable resemblance to a wagtail. Very delicately and 

 beautifully plumaged birds are the so-called superb warblers, among which Malurus 

 cyaneus has the enamel-like feathers of the back pale blue and velvety black, 

 while the throat is blue-black and the under surface bluish white. Closely 

 allied is the pheasant-tailed warbler (Stipitwrus malacrurus), representing an 

 exclusively Australasian genus belonging to the thrush family, in which the tail 

 is • formed of sixteen feathers with open webs. Omitting mention of the tit- 

 mice, as being of no special distributional interest, the flower-peckers (Dicceidce), 

 which are common to the Oriental and Australasian regions, and perhaps also to 

 West Africa, have an exquisite representative in the well-known diamond-bird 

 (Parclalotus ajfinis), which is about the size of a wren, with a thicker beak than 

 its relatives. With the exception of one outlying species in Bali, and others in 

 Celebes, the honey-peckers, Meliphagidce, of which the Australian scarlet and black 

 soldier-bird (Myzomela sangiuinolenta) is a striking representative, form an ex- 

 clusively Australasian family with some two hundred species. These birds take 

 their name from feeding on the honey in the flowers of blue gum-trees. The larks 

 (Alaiodidce) have a single representative in the shape of the Australian field-lark 

 (Alauda australis), and the pipits have but few Australian species, while the 

 true finches {Fringillidai) are totally wanting. In the economy of nature the 

 place of the group last mentioned is filled by the weavers and weaver-finches of 

 the family Ploceidce, which, as we have seen, is common to the Oriental and Ethiopian 

 regions. As well-known Australian representatives of the group may be mentioned 

 the zebra-finch (Amadina castanotis) and the reed-finch (A. castaneothorax). The 

 wood-swallows (Artamidce), ranging as far west as India, and characterised by 

 their conspicuously long wings, recalling those of the true swallows, which these 

 bhxls resemble in general habits, have numerous Australian representatives. These 

 haunt the banks of rivers and open plains, where they hawk for flies, in pursuit 

 of which they often skim the surface of the water. They are, however, less 

 swift than the true swallows, and are awkward on the ground on account of their 

 short legs. Their nests are always built in trees. The species known as Artamus 

 superciliosus, a bird grey above and rusty brown below, is a good example of the 

 group. The naked-lored orioles of the genus Sphecoiheres have several Australian 

 representatives, while the golden oriole of Europe also visits the antipodes. 

 Birds-of-Para- With the exception of an outlying species in Madagascar, 



dise and the gorgeous birds-of-paradise (Paradiseidce) form an exclusively 

 Bower-Birds. Australasian group, distinguished from their supposed relatives the 

 crows by the form of their feet and nostrils and the long wire-like feathers with 

 which parts of the plumage are decorated. The group is more fully noticed under 

 the heading of New Guinea, which is its headquarters. 



Much the same remark applies to the bower-birds, which are included by 

 some writers in the Paradiseidce, while by others they are assigned to a family 

 by themselves, the Ptilonorhynchidce. These birds, which attain their greatest 

 development in New Guinea, derive their name from their remarkable habit of 

 constructing bowers, or "runs," during the breeding-season, in which both sexes 

 disport themselves for a time. The two or three eggs are, however, laid in a nest 

 of twigs some distance away from the bower. Among the dozen or so of 



