OCT 31 18S6 



A List of tlje Insectivorous Birds of New 



South Wales. 



By ALFEED J. NORTH, C.M.Z.S., 



Ornithologist to the Australian Museum. 



In the following list of the insectivorous birds of New South "Wales a refer- 

 ence is given to where an accurate figure of each species may be found ; also 

 to a more detailed description of its nest or a figure of its egg. The 

 vernacular name of each bird is given, and, by request, as far as possible, its 

 local appellation. Care, however, must be taken in the use of the latter 

 class of nomenclature, for a local name is often more apt to mislead and con- 

 fuse than to assist one in recognising the particular species on which it is 

 bestowed. This is chiefly due to the same local name being applied to 

 two or more species. For instance, Corcorax melanorhamphus, Xeropliila 

 leucopsis, and Myzantha garrula are all locally known in different parts of 

 the Colony by the name of " Squeaker." 



A brief description of the nidification of each species is also given to 

 enable those who are unacquainted with the economy of our avi-fauna to 

 recognise the nests and eggs of insectivorous birds beneficial or harmful to the 

 pursuits of man. 



Several useful papers on the subject have appeared in the official magazine 

 of the Department of Agriculture. One by the Honorable Dr. James 

 Norton, M.L.C., entitled ''Australian Birds; Useful and Noxious,"* in 

 which sixty-seven species are specially referred to, besides many others in 

 general terms. This paper, the result of many years' observation and 

 practical experience, in addition to containing other valuable information, 

 deals principally with the good and bad qualities of birds so far as they affect 

 the agriculturist and horticulturist, and the particular kind of food each 

 species subsists upon. In the same journal (Appendix F, p. 240), Dr. E. P. 

 Eamsay, F.L.S., F.R.S.E., also contributes a paper on " Birds Useful to 

 Agriculturists, Fruit-growers, and Farmers," and enumerates eighty-nine 

 insectivorous birds usually found in and about the farms, gardens, and 

 orchards of the Colony. The food of many species is given, also a reference 

 number to his " Tabular List of Australian Birds," which shows the further 

 range of each species over the continent. A third paper also appears in 

 the same number, p. 151, by Mr. A. Gr. Hamilton, of Mount Kembla, 

 entitled, " Birds which are Enemies or Friends of Fruit-growers." In this 

 list the writer divides the 108 insectivorous or partially insectivorous birds 

 enumerated into three groups, giving their distribution east or west of the 



Note. — Contributions from the Australian Museum, by permission of the Trustees. 

 * Department of Agriculture, N.S.W. ; Bull. No. 1, App. G., p. 215 (1890). 



