272 THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA 



Mr. North says well of this charming, if homely, little bird, 

 "A resident and well-known species as freely distributed inland 

 as it is near the coast, where it may be found frequenting alike 

 the tall Eucalypti and the low undergrowth, and is equally 

 common in the parks and gardens of Sydney. This sombre little 

 bird with its conspicuous white lateral tail feathers, which show 

 to advantage when flying, is an indefatigable destroyer of insects, 

 and being of a fearless and sociable disposition, is a general 

 favourite with orchardists and agriculturalists." Jacky Winter, 

 as they call him, is indeed seldom molested by even the thought- 

 less schoolboys. It is endowed with a most cheerful and 

 pleasing song, the notes of which resemble, according to Gould, 

 the spring notes of the English Chaffinch, but are more clear 

 and powerful. They are rendered in trochaic measure — " — " — ^ 

 — something like Peter, Peter, Peter, Peter. It will come 

 around as you work in your garden, and perch on a 

 gate or fence or a fruit tree stake, though it never 

 remains long in the same place, but flits across with a 

 peculiar turn of its tail from one side to the other, showing the 

 white feathers. It nests in the latter part of the year. The nest 

 is a very small, slight, nearly flat structure, some 2^ inches 

 across, formed of fibres or grasses, with bits of bark and lichen 

 outside, and most artfully placed flush in the fork of a horizontal 

 branch at a good height from the ground, so that it is most 

 difficult to see from below. The eggs two or three, are of a bluish- 

 green ground colour, spotted and blotched with purplish-brown 

 and underlying blotches of grey, and measure .72 x .55 inch. 



In the "West and the Northern Territory, this bird is repre- 

 sented by the Lesser Brown Fly-catcher M. assimilis, which is 

 rather smaller. Total length 4.5, wing 3.35 inches, and has the 

 outermost tail feathers blackish-brown with a white margin. 



In North Queensland and the Northern Territory the variety 

 M. pallida, is found. It is lighter in colour and smaller in size 

 than 31. fascinans, and has more white on the tail feathers. 

 Total length 4.3 inches, wing 3, tail 2, bill 0.3. The two eggs 

 measure .68 x .53 inch. 



