SEIZUllA INQUIETA. 



(Restless Flif-catclter.) 



Ceown, lores, cheeks, and all the upper surface, bluish black ; quills, dark brown ; tail, brownish black; under surface, white; irides, dark 

 brown ; bill, bluish black ; feet, greyish brown. 



Length : 8 inches ; wing, 4f ; tail, 4i^ ; bill, 1 ; tarsus, f . 



This species is found in most of the colonies. Few situations exist from Queensland to Western Australia where it may not be 

 met with, when the character of the country is suitable to its requirements. The open forest is where it may be most frequently observed, 

 but it is to be found in all situations. Some of its actions are very peculiar: sometimes it will poise itself in the air and remain in the same spot 

 for a short time, and then make a perpendicular descent for the purpose of capturing some insect ; or at others it will alight on a stump and 

 commence a series of movements from side to side, describing a semicircle, with its tail expanded all the time ; these motions being generally 

 accompanied by the utterance of its singular inharmonious note, which has procured for it the name of "the knife grinder." The breeding season 

 is the spring, viz., from September to November. The nest is cup shaped, and formed of fine grasses, matted together with cobwebs, and lined 

 with fine root fibres and a few feathers. Eggs, from two to three, dull white, spotted with chestnut and greyish brown, and assuming the form 

 of a zone in the centre ; size, Og by 7 lines. 



