THE WHITE-BELLIED SHEIKE-TIT 351 



white instead of yellow. Total length 6.8 inches, cnlmen .7.5, wing 3.6.5, 

 tail 3.4, tarsus .85. Female somewhat smaller. 



The Shrike-tits are not found in the hotter northern parts of 

 Australia. Around Sydney 7^. fronlatus is not infrequently 

 met with amongst the gum-trees. It is a striking looking bird, 

 the yellow breast being very conspicuous from below. It is very 

 lively and active, and resembles the much smaller European 

 Titmice in its habits of clinging to and climbing round the 

 branches. It feeds on insects, which it procures by hunting 

 over the bark and among the foliage of the trees. Gould says 

 of it: "No bird of its size with which I am acquainted possesses 

 greater strength in its mandibles, or is capable of inflicting 

 severer wounds, as I experienced on handling one I had pre- 

 viously winged, and which fastened on my hand in the most 

 ferocious manner. ' ' It utters a low plaintive note while engaged 

 in hunting, and now and again erects its crest. The nest is a 

 beautiful inverted cone-shaped structure outwardly composed 

 of shreds of fibrous bark bound round, and held together with 

 ■spiders' webs like that of a Fantail, the inside being lined with 

 very fine grasses and thin strips of bark, and is usually placed 

 in the thin topmost leafy twigs of a tall Eucalyptus tree, though 

 ■sometimes in a sapling. It usually nips the end of the twigs off 

 immediately above its nest. The eggs are white, minutely dotted 

 and spotted with slaty-black markings; .89 x .63 inch. I was 

 present with a friend who wished to secure the nest and eggs of 

 a Shrike-Tit which had built near the extremity of a long, rather 

 liigh, horizontal branch, stretching over a fioor of hard and 

 uneven rocks near Cook's Eiver. With great dexterity and 

 daring he succeeded in obtaining the prize, but alas in the 

 ■descent the eggs were broken. The nest was exceedingly well 

 placed for safety, and I imagine the bird proceeded to build 

 another in a yet more inaccessible situation, and I trust suc- 

 ■ceeded in bringing up its family undisturbed. 



Genus Oreoica. 

 Bill very convex but without tooth. Nostrils oval. Tail 

 •shorter than wing, square. Crown with a crest of feathers. 

 Plumage dull-coloured. Australia only. 



