GEELONG GROUND-WREN 253 
with dark markings, resembling closely those of the 
Calamanthus. 
I should expect to find this species in the somewhat 
similar barren country about Stieglitz. 
BABBLER 
Pomatostomus temporalis tregellasi 
About the size of the Minah, with dark brown upper 
surface, white chest, broad white stripe over the eye, 
and conspicuous white-tipped tail, the Babbler (also 
called Chatterer, Parson Bird, and Twelve Apostles) 
is a bird which one can hardly fail to notice if in the 
vicinity. But it is not nearly so common as once 
it was : there are a pair or two in an acacia-hedged 
paddock, on the Barwon Heads Road, about eight 
miles out; a small flock near Mount Duneed ; odd 
birds on the back road to Ocean Grove ; and a fair 
number at the foot of the You Yangs, at Gnarwarre, 
and towards Paraparap. That is all. Once they 
were spread throughout the district. 
It is the habit of the Babbler to feed in a small 
company on the ground ; when disturbed they fly 
with a noisy chattering sound to the nearest tree 
and hop one after the other up a branch till they get 
to the top, which, as each attains, he flies off to the 
next tree, where the process is repeated as if it were 
a game of follow-my-leader. The chattering is 
interspersed with a loud, very unmusical whistle. 
