284 THE BIKDS OF AUSTRALIA 



Wagtail. The notes during the breeding season are strong and 

 clear and of much sweetness. Bushmen generally translate the 

 call note into ' ' Sweet Pretty Creature. " It is a very tame bird, 

 is constantly about the farms, gardens and orchards, sits on the 

 gates or palings, and will even run along the backs of the cows 

 in its busy search for insects. The nest is deeply cup-shaped, 

 resembling in texture that of the other Fantails, and is usually 

 placed on the branch of a tree at a good height from the ground. 

 The eggs of all the Fantails have a general resemblance. 



Genus Myiagra. Fly-catchers. 



Another genus widely distributed over Australia, Austro- 

 Malaysia and the Western Pacific. The sexes differ usually 

 ■considerably in the colouring of the plumage. There are four 

 Australian species, two of which are confined to the North. 

 while the other two migrate to the southern states and Tasmania, 

 arriving in September and remaining until March to nest and 

 rear their young. The note is a loud and shrill whistle. 



A. — Head, back and wing-coverts, throat and fore-neck leaden- 

 grey ; remainder of under surface white ; in the females the 

 throat and fore-neck light reddish-buff. 



The Leaden Fly-catcher, M. rubecula (plumbea). — Tasmania and Eastern 

 Australia to New Guinea. Lores and feathers in front of the, eye 

 lead-colour. Length of male .5.7 inches, of female 5.2. 



The nest is composed of small pieces of bark and wiry root- 

 lets held together with cobwebs, and ornamented on the outside 

 with green lichens ; usually it is placed on the top of a horizontal 

 bough, and frequently at a considerable height from the ground. 

 The eggs are 3 in number, dull bluish-white in ground colour, 

 with a zone of dark slaty -blue spots around the centre or towards 

 the larger end of the egg. They measure .74 x .55 inch. A most 

 active bird, and most useful to man as a destroyer of insect pests. 

 It displays a constant tremulous motion of the tail, which often 

 betrays it even when resting on a bough. 



