ZIETZ—Thr. Southern Black-headed Minah. . 11 



a few white ones upon the wings. They are not at all shy 

 abont their nests. Two I found building and put my finger 

 into, subsequently had eggs laid in jthem. Their food con- 

 sists of ants and other small insects. 



Malurus melanotus callainus (Turquoise Wren) — This 

 bird likes the scrub-covered sandhills or thick, low 

 scrub of any kind. They rarely wander on to the 



plains. The brilliant male is a very conspicuous ob- 

 ject, and not at all shy. The male when courting the female 

 ruffs out the feathers of the head and breast and spreads the 

 wings in the same way as M. lamberti assimilis and utters the 

 same kind of churring note. The ordinary song of both sexes 

 is like "chic, chic, chic, chicity, chicity, chicity," uttered very 

 rapidly from the top of a small bush or dry branch of a shrub. 

 They spend much of their time on the ground hunting for 

 ants and other small insects. 



The female does most of the nest building, the male occa- 

 sionally contributing a piece of material. 1 found five nests 

 at Kallioota between August 15 and August 25, 1912. They 

 were all built upon the ground in the end twigs of fallen 

 bushes. All these nests were largely built of sheep's wool 

 mingled with a few pieces of dry grass and herbage. The 

 lining was of rabbits' fur. The nest is only semi-domed. The 

 eggs or sitting bird arc plainly visible without disturbing the 

 nest. Two nests which 1 found building were not deserted. 

 A nest found building on August 15 contained three slightly 

 incubated eggs on August 28, so I should think it took about 

 ten days in the making. One nest contained an egg of the 

 narrow billed bronze cuckoo, together with two of the host. 

 The eggs are three or four in number. In all the nests of 

 these three species which I found, the female was sitting. 



Note on the Southern Black-headed Minah 

 (Myzantha melanocephala whitei). 



By F. R. Zietz. 



These birds are usually found in the hihy districts, and 

 rarely met with on the Adelaide Plains. A flock of about a 

 dozen visits our garden, which is in the suburb of Kingswood, 

 a little over a mile as the crow flies from the foot of the Mount 

 Lofty Ranges. They make their appearance in the winter 



