MIOB(ECA. 95 



Genus MICECEOA, Gould. 



, 8.-3 MICRCECA FASCINANS, Latham. 



Brown Flycatcher. 

 Gould, Sandbk Bds. Aust., Vol. i., sp- 149, p. 258. 



" This bird, although one of our most common and most sombre- 

 coloured, is one of our sweetest songsters. At day-break it may 

 be seen perched upon the dead top of some lofty Eucalyptus, 

 pouring forth a song of the most cheerful and pleasing strain ; its 

 notes are varied and may be heard at a considerable distance. 

 Mr. Gould remarks that they resemble those of the Chaffinch 

 (Fringilla ccelebs). They have a decided preference for perching' 

 while singing, upon the very topmost boughs of the most lofty trees 

 from whence they will dart off to capture some insect on the wing, 

 and then return to complete their song. They are very tame and 

 fearless of man, and will frequently come and perch beside you 

 when walking in the fields or bush, wagging their tails from side 

 to side — as if perfectly sure they were either privieged birds; or, 

 on account of their dull plumage, not worth shooting. The nest 

 is small, but very neat and compact, one inch and three-quarters 

 across by half an inch deep, composed of grasses sunk in the fork 

 of a horizontal bough ; the edge is even with or slightly raised 

 above the branches, and ornamented with small scales of bark 

 securely fastened on with cobwebs and rendered so like the bark 

 of the tree, that it is no easy task for one who is unacquainted 

 with its habits to discover it. The eggs are two in number, but 

 I remember two instances in which we found three in a nest : 

 this is however rarely the case. In length they are from eight 

 and a-half to ten lines by six to seven lines in breadth. They 

 vary considerably in colour, some being of a beautiful bluish-green 

 with a zone of brownish-purple and greyish-lilac blotches round 

 the centre, and a few dots over the rest of the surface ; in others 

 the spots are dispersed equally over the whole. As the eggs fade 

 the ground colour becomes very pale, and the markings turn to 

 dull reddish-brown. This species has two, and sometimes three 

 broods in the year. The peculiar instinct which birds have of 



