It is one of the tamest of all the Australian birds, being continually found in the immediate 

 vicinity of houses, and when approached closely, merely hops away to a short distance. It is also a 

 very common sight in a paddock to see these birds perched on the backs of horses or cattle, or 

 capturing insects from beneath their noses, the animals, meanwhile, taking not the slightest notice. 

 Except when flying, it continually moves its tail from side to side, which action procures its ordinary 

 name of " Wagtail." 



Its note, which is loud and .shrill, is always uttered at night. 



During the period of incubation, which begins in September, it rears either two or three 

 broods. The nest is placed on the branch of a tree or on a fallen limb, or sometimes beneath 

 the roof of a verandah, and is constructed of strips of bark, fibrous roots, and various grasses, matted 

 together with cobwebs, and lined internally with fine grass, feathers, and hair procured from the backs, 

 and sometimes even from the inside of the ears, of animals. Three eggs are laid, in length nine and 

 a half lines, and in breadth seven lines. Their colour is dull white, with a zone of dark brown spots 

 across the middle, or the larger end. 



The colouring of the male and female is the same. 



The head, neck, throat, chest, upper surface, and tail are greenish-black, the outer tail-feathers 



margined with brown ; wings, brown ; line over the eye and the under surface, greyish-white ; irides, 

 bill, legs, and feet, black. 



Habitat : The whole of Australia. 



