Insectivorous Birds of New South Wales. 23 



frequenting cultivated lands or orchards it is by no means a shy species, and 

 will often venture on to the side of a mountain track in search of food if one 

 is only a few feet away, and remains perfectly still. The nest is a dome- 

 shaped structure with an entrance in the side, and is composed of strips of 

 hark and rootlets, lined inside with feathers ; it is usually built in the thick 

 undergrowth near the ground. Eggs, two in number for a sitting, of a slaty 

 or purplish-brown ground colour, with a zone of indistinct blackish markings 

 on the thicker end ; length, 1 x 0"75 inch. 



79. Cisticola exilis, Vigors and Horsfeld. Grass "Warbler, " Corn-bird," 



" Barley-bird." 

 Cysticola exilis, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol. ed., Yol. nr, pi. 42 (1848). 

 Cysticola lineocapilla, Gould, Bds. Austr , fol. ed., Vol. in, pi. 43 (1818). 

 Cysticola isura, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol. ed., Yol. in, pi. 44 (1848). 

 Cysticola ruficeps, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol. ed., Yol. in, pi. 45 (1848). 



The above synonymy has been worked out by Dr. R. B. Sharpe in the 

 seventh volume of the catalogue of birds in the British Museum, p. 269, after 

 a careful examination of a large series of specimens, and who has conclusively 

 proved that the four plates figured in Gould's work, and referred to above, 

 are only sexual and seasonal variations of the present species, C. exilis ; and 

 specimens shot in the neighbourhood of Sydney sustain Dr. Sharpe's 

 determination. This little bird has a most extensive range, being found in 

 favourable situations all over Australia, the Papuan and Moluccan Islands, 

 the Phillipines and South-eastern Asia. In New South "Wales it is more 

 frequently met with in the grass beds near the coast ; and in cultivated parts 

 of the Colony, the' standing grain crops. The nest is usually built near the 

 ground upon three or four grass stalks growing through some broad-leaved 

 plant; when built in crops, frequently a thistle. It is a neat dome-shaped 

 structure, formed of thistledown, fine grasses, and the dead flowering portions 

 of grass stems beautifully woven together, and usually almost concealed by 

 two or three of the surrounding leaves being worked on to the sides of the 

 nest. Eggs, three or four in number for a sitting, blue, spotted or blotched, 

 particularly at the larger end, with brownish-red. The food of this bird 

 consists exclusively of minute insects. Erom its habits of building in stand- 

 ing crops in agricultural districts it is known in some parts of the Colony 

 under the local name of "Corn" or "Barley -bird." 



80. Sebtcoenis citreogtjlaris, Gould. Yellow- throated Sericornis. 



Sericornis citreogularis, Gould, Birds of Austr., fol. ed., pi. 46 (1868) 

 North, Nests and Eggs of Austr. Bds., p. 129, pi. 9, fig. 5 (1889). 



This species is freely dispersed throughout the rich coastal brushes of the 

 Colony. It is common in the luxuriant undergrowth that clothes the sides 

 of the Richmond and Clarence Rivers, and the humid gullies of the Illawarra 

 District. The nest of this species is a large, pendent, dome-shaped structure, 

 composed of rootlets and mosses, with a narrow entrance in the side, and is 

 usually attached to the end of a drooping branch. Eggs, three in number 

 for a sitting, of a pale chocolate-brown or uniform drab ground colour, 

 minutely freckled at the larger end with blackish-brown, forming a well- 

 defined zone ; length, 095 x 0"68 inch. The food of this genus of birds, 

 which consists of insects of various kinds, is chiefly obtained on the ground, 

 among the fallen timber or debris in the low undergrowth, but they seldom 

 venture on to cleared or cultivated lands. 



