58 
The Emu. 
snake skin fastened on, and built in thick vegetation, which, com- 
bined with the dull colour of the sitting bird and the general 
gloom of the scrub, screens them to a great extent from above, 
and the male generally keeps well away from the nest. Orioles are 
a bright colour, in which green largely predominates, especially 
on the back, and they build their deep hanging nests well towards 
the end of a bough, among the green leaves, and from above the 
sitting bird is very difficult to distinguish. The Colly riocinclce, 
or Shrike-Thrushes, are all mostly of a dull grey colour, and not 
much difference between the male and female. The large 
varieties build their nests generally of shreds of dry bark, nearly 
the same colour as themselves, and place them either on a dead 
stump or in a hollow, in places where the surroundings are of a 
similar colour, and frequently in open forest country. The 
smaller varieties, which live in the scrubs of Northern Queens- 
land, build their nests low down in Pandanus Palms or other 
shrubs, and the material they use is mostly palm fibre or rootlets, 
and very difficult to distinguish. The male often relieves the 
female at incubation, both birds being of a protective colour. 
The Graucalus and Lalage both build nests which are very diffi- 
cult to see, being small and almost exactly the same colour as 
their surroundings, and also of the bird, as the backs of the hen 
birds in both families are more or less dark grey, and their nests 
are situated in the horizontal fork of a bough where the outside 
bark is rough and dead, and not smooth and green as it is 
towards the end of the branch. The nests are composed 
mostly of small twigs well held together with cobwebs, and very 
difficult even at a short distance to distinguish. The Caterpillar- 
eater {Edoliisoma tenuirostre) places pieces of lichen on its 
nest, if any happens to be on the branch near it. 
The little Lemon-breasted Y\yQ,-dXQ}^Q.x{^Microeca Jlavzgaster)\\2iS 
a habit of covering its tiny nest with pieces of bark, taken 
from the tree on which the nest is built, and, being so diminutive 
as well, it simply looks like a small excrescence on the 
branch on which it is situated, and is a beautiful instance of 
the way the bird makes its home almost invisible even from 
a short distance. 
In the beautiful family of Robins the back of the female is 
dull brown or grey, and the small amount of red or other 
colour on her breast is well hidden when she is sitting. Their 
nests are built in various situations, and the material used 
depends on the locality. Such Robins as Petrccca rosea, building 
in gullies, where moss is abundant, generally use plenty of that 
material, frequently placing the nest on green or moss-covered 
branches. Others, such as the Yellow-breasted Shrike-Robin 
{Eopsaltrid), to make their nests look more like the surround- 
ings, hang strips of bark on, often 4 inches long, also pieces of 
lichen and empty spider cocoons, fastening them on with cobweb. 
Those varieties, again, that nest in open forest country, such as 
