THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
are in long blue quills, and the breast, sides and flanks are well feathered and 
of a creamy-rufous. The general colour above was dark grey with long rufous 
down adhering to the feathers ; legs lilac. At ten days old the irides were 
very dark brown, and the gape had assumed a yellowish colour ; abdomen 
white ; throat and breast light rufous ; feathers on back dark grey edged with 
brown ; primaries dark brown edged with light buff ; eyebrow light brown 
with the feathers just breaking, brown down all over body ; legs and feet lilac. 
They would probably leave the nest in about three or four days. Both parents 
help in the tasks of building the nest and feeding the young.” 
Mr. L. G. Chandler has also sent me notes giving details of the young, 
confirming Howe’s account, and adding : “ It is pleasing to notice the large 
increase in numbers of this splendid insectivorous bird. One day at Ringwood 
I saw the bird in dozens. The amount of insects they destroy, as they zigzag 
back and forwards through a host of small flies, must be enormous. The nest 
is placed at varying altitudes, but generally close to the groimd. I found a 
nest on one occasion where the sitting bird was nearly destroyed by a bush fire. 
The flames were quite close to the bird when I noticed it, and I had to push it 
off the eggs before it would leave. The eggs were hard sat, which accounted 
for the devotion of the bird.” 
Mr. Frank Littler has written me : “ Distributed throughout Tasmania 
and islands of Bass Straits. The food consists almost entirely of insects, 
which are mostly captured in the air. When flitting from bough to bough it 
has a rather head-over-heels kind of flight. It is very tame in disposition, 
seeming to have practically no fear of man. It enters the houses in the bush 
and captures the flies on the window, and frequently comes about the gardens 
in the towns. The flight is weak and wavering, many strange antics being 
performed on the wing. The song is weak, but pretty.” 
Mr. A. G. Campbell observes : “ King Island specimens, though smaller, 
show no difference in plumage from the Tasmanian ones, and farther on the 
mainland, in southern Victoria, birds (presumably forms of R. albiscapa) 
can be found quite as dusky and with as little white on the tail as the insular 
species. The patches of white may possibly vary with age, but in a general 
way the mainland bird shows large markings on the tail-feathers. The fledgeling 
of the Tasmanian race is dark brown suffused with reddish-brown ; eyebrows, 
edges of secondaries and wing-coverts light brown ; outer tail-feathers tipped 
grey ; abdomen light fawn.” 
McClymont has written : “ The weak flight of the Fantail ( Rhipidura 
diemenensis ) is in marked contrast to the exquisite curves oftentimes described 
by the Wood Swallow. The perpetual jerky movements of this Flycatcher, both 
when on the perch and when on the wing, suggest a limited range of vision and 
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