THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
races that are included under the species name Acanthiza pusilla White, as they 
show considerable differences both in markings and in habits. I should divide 
them into two main groups A. p. pusilla I have found quite numerous in the 
forest country of the Blackall Ranges in Queensland, and in the Blue Mountains 
and Buli, New South Wales. Then again, I have found A. p. macularia numerous 
in the wooded country from the Dandenong Range to Gippsland in Victoria. 
In South Australia a subspecies is found numerously in similar localities through- 
out the Mt. Lofty ranges and Kangaroo Island and is that which has been 
designated A. p. zietzi North. The notes and habits of all these are similar so 
that the description of one will fully cover the three races. In the Mt. Lofty 
ranges this Acanthiza is chiefly found in the wetter parts by preference living 
in the dense bushes along the banks of creeks, though in winter it comes freely 
into the more open timbered country round Blackwood. The song is rather 
sweet, it has a greater range of notes than is the case with most members of 
this genus but its most characteristic note is a loud, rather rasping call which 
always impresses one as being remarkably loud for so small a bird. Its favourite 
nesting place is a low dense bush within a couple of feet of the ground. The 
next division might well be classed as the ‘ apicalis ’ group and possibly would be 
better placed under that name rather than classified as subspecies of A. pusilla. 
This group is composed of the following, beginning with the Mallee bird A. 
hamiltoni, A. arno, A. venus and A. apicalis. These four forms have notes and 
calls distinct from A. pusilla. In South Australia A. hamiltoni Math, or as we 
used to know it A. pyrrhopygia Gould is chiefly a mallee bird. I have found 
it quite common throughout the extensive Mallee between the River Murray 
and the Victorian Border and beyond. Twenty-five miles north of Adelaide 
it is frequently met with in the Ti-Tree (Melaleuca) and Mallee when patches 
occur, and is also finding its way into the Mangroves on the low-lying land 
bordering the Gulf. On Eyre’s Peninsula I have found it or rather the race 
called arno Math, very numerous in the Mallee. On the occasion of my visit 
to Venus Bay in the Great Bight the pale race called venus Math, was quite as 
common in similar situations. A. apicalis. During my recent visit to Western 
Australia in November, 1920, I noted characteristics that certainly seem to 
warrant separation from A. pusilla. The three forms referred to under this 
division hamiltoni , arno and venus are all dry-land forms and although I have 
collected a form of apicalis in the Goldfields its home seems to be in the wet 
parts of that State. I have found it very numerous at Albany, Ellenbrook, 
Yallingup and in the neighbourhood of Perth. In these localities it was common 
wherever there were tall bushes or low Banksia scrub. It gave one the 
impression of being a decidedly stouter bird than A. pusilla. The tail is excep- 
tionally long and carried at a decided angle of elevation quite different from 
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