Order Passer (formes, Family Laniiclae, Genus FalquncuVus. 33 



to the middle and lower parts of the trees where loose pieces 

 of bark may be found, underneath which they find their food. 

 They can detach surprisingly large pieces of bark, and when 

 at work on the trunk of a gum tree, a pair of these birds will 

 make a considerable noise, when pulling off and dropping the 

 piece's of bark for they move from one piece to another with 

 great rapidity. If a piece of bark be hard to move, they give 

 il a shake with the bill, and then listen for insect movement 

 'inderneath it before pulling it off. They are pugnacious 

 birds at nesting time, when they will drive any intruders our 

 of their particular district. 



Flight. — Rather slow and undulating, and never long con- 

 tinued. / 



Song. — A long drawn mournful whistle is the commonest, 

 another note is a double whistle, the second being drawn out; 

 and a third note is a triple sound, something between a whistle 

 and a chatter, resembling the words chet-a-chet frequently re- 

 peated. The song is uttered all the year round, but is louder 

 and more frequent in the breeding season. 



Food. — Chiefly insects taken from beneath the bark # of 

 trees. They have been known occasionally to break open and 

 eat soft shell almonds. 



Nest. — The nest is one of the most difficult to find of all 

 Australian birds, and when found is often inaccessable. The 

 site most commonly chosen is an upright fork at the extreme 

 top of an Eucalyptus sapling, at a height varying from 20 to 

 30 feet from the ground. The birds first nip off the small 

 twigs about 5 or inches above the selected site, and then 

 score the bark of the inner surfaces of the twigs to which the 

 nest is to be attached, right down to the wood; the edges of 

 the wound in the bark soon curl outwards, and so afford a 

 firmer hold for the nesting material. The nest is pear shaped, 

 and is built of fine strips of bark bound together with cobweb, 

 and outwardly decorated with the teased up silk of spiders' 

 cocoons; it is lined with fine dried grasses. The upper edge 

 of the nest is curved inwards to prevent the eggs being thrown 

 out in a hisdi wind, the nest has to b° turned almost upside 

 down before t lie eggs will roll out. ' Both sexes assist in 

 building the ne«t. if the nest be taken, another is built with- 

 in a fortnight, within a 100 yards of the first, but it is not cer- 

 tain whether two broods are reared in the season under 

 normal conditions. Three eggs are almost invariably laid, 

 very occasional! v four. 



