WHITEFACE 
311 
insects, and permits a near approach ; when flushed, 
it flies but a few yards away and settles again either 
on the ground or on a tree or hedge ; it is never found 
far from she-oak trees or acacia hedges. 
The nest may be found at any time of the year 
between July and December ; I have seen nests with 
fresh eggs in the former month at the You Yangs, 
and in the latter at Batesford. The situation chosen 
varies greatly. On the plains a deep cleft in a she-oak 
trunk is selected ; elsewhere the nest is placed well 
in towards the centre of an acacia hedge or isolated 
bush. In one case I found it built in the middle of 
a bunch of mistletoe growing on a she-oak. It is a 
loose structure of grasses, with side entrance, and is 
warmly lined with feathers ; it rather suggests a small 
nest of the Sparrow. That is the type ; but in Sep- 
tember, 1902, I found one in the projecting branch of 
a kangaroo-acacia bush at Jan Juc, which was abso- 
lutely similar in every respect to the typical nest 
of the Tomtit {Geobasileus chrysorrhoa). This nest 
contained an egg of the Narrow-billed Bronze Cuckoo 
in addition to two of the Whiteface. 
The eggs may best be described as like Sparrow's 
eggs, but two-thirds of the size. 
ORANGE-WINGED TREE-RUNNER 
Neositta chrysoptera lathami 
Excepting during the breeding-season, the small 
bird known as the Tree-runner is only to be seen in 
