THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Gould also described this species, and apparently he never met with it while 
in Australia as years afterwards he still wrote : “No notes of any kind having 
been sent with the specimens.” 
Captain S. A. White has written : “ Acanthiza uropygialis mellori. This 
little bird is well distributed over the lower end of Eyre’s Peninsula. They 
are active little birds, moving along in small parties full of animation as they 
search in the foliage of the branches of the trees and even on the ground for 
insect food. Their general note is a low plaintive one, but at times they sing 
a short sweet song. A. u. condora. I have met with this distinctive sub- 
species in many parts of the interior but it does not come down south. Its 
habits are unlike those of other members of the genus. A. u. augusta. This 
bird is not plentiful and seems to have a very restricted range for I have never 
seen it very far away from the head of the gulf.” 
Mr. Edwin Ashby’s notes read : “ This is always a dry country bird. It 
is numerous in the Mallee and Pine Scrub ( Calytris ) that borders the River 
Murray, in similar scrub on the South Australian and Victorian border. I 
have specimens sent me from Lake Gillies in Northern South Australia, and 
I have collected it on the Gold Fields in Western Australia and in November 
last (1920) I found it at Watheroo, about 130 miles North of Perth. Its nesting 
site is very distinct from that of other members of the genus. I have always 
found its nest in a hollow or split in a pine or mallee trunk made by the blowing 
off of a bough or other splitting of the tree, the slim little birds being able to 
pass through the narrowest slit and modifying the shape of the nest according 
to the limitations of the slight cavity.” 
Air. Tom Carter has written me : “ The Chestnut-rumped Tit was 
never observed by me in the South West, but is not uncommon in 
Mid-West districts, and also the Gascoyne and North-West Cape areas. 
They feed in scrub and also in the gum trees constantly uttering a cheerful 
little song.” 
Whitlock, writing of the birds of the East Murchison, records: “Chestnut- 
rumped Tit. A very common bird throughout the district, but rather avoiding 
the scrub immediately around Lake Violet. I found many nests containing 
from two to four eggs. With one exception all were in hollow stems of bushes, 
some of them remarkably small. The walls of the nests were thin, but the 
lining always profuse, consisting of fur, feathers, string, or any soft material 
to hand. Despite the situation of the nest, it is a true dome-shaped structure, 
with the entrance near the top. The species is double brooded. The 
exceptionally placed nest alluded to was built in a pipe of bark which had peeled 
off a dead mulga, but from which it was still suspended. It was eventually torn 
from its position. There were fresh Emu tracks near by.” 
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