THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Their ordinary note is a short ‘ cheep, cheep,’ but they also have a very sweet 
but short song. S. f. rosince. I was under the impression that this was a new 
species for some time but it was not until 1912 that I set out in search for it. 
This is now a common bird but keeps to the deep damp gullies. It is very 
silent, or so I found it, but it may be in the early mornings they utter the sweet 
song so common to the members of this genus. The nest resembles that of other 
Sericornis in shape, composed of dry grass and invariably placed in a mass of 
dry bracken fern in the deep dark gullies in the Mount Lofty Ranges.” 
At Mallacoota, Victoria, Captain White found it “ Very common in nearly 
all the damp gullies. They keep to the thick undergrowth during the middle 
of the day, but in the morning and evening they were seen hopping about on 
the short grass in search of insects. At the least sound they would dart into 
cover.” 
The confusion between S. frontalis and osculans in Victoria and South 
Australia has made the determination of the field notes published somewhat 
difficult. Thus H. E. Hill in his Notes from Geelong and Otway Districts 
has written : “ S. osculans and S. frontalis. Both of these birds are very 
abundant in the salt-bush scrub wherever it is found, and throughout the forest 
they are thick in the undergrowth if it is at all dense. Have seen the nests of 
S. frontalis only, although the other species no doubt breeds here too.” 
Mr. A. G. Campbell to whom I applied for accurate information on the 
subject of the Victorian forms wrote me fully as follows : “ One of the very 
commonest birds of the Victorian bush is Sericornis. From shore line to the 
tops of the highest mountains wherever there is any semblance of timber or 
brake of scrub, birds will be found. But the particular variety has long been 
a matter of question. Generally reference is made to S. frontalis as the 
commonest bird, but collections of skins I have made from many parts 
of the State point out S. osculans as being far more plentiful. In fact 
my opinion, based on observations, is that S. frontalis is rare. Gould in his 
Handbook sets down the difference in the two species as accurately as can be. 
He stated that an obscure dark subterminal band on the tail of S. osculans was 
the distinguishing feature of that species. Possibly observers have not given 
the full significance to the word 4 obscure’ for a cursory examination will often 
fail to show the band. If the feathers of the tail are widely separated the faint 
dark band can be traced on the inner webs of the outer feathers. There is not 
a continuous band clearly defined as in S. maculata, but the character holds good 
however. Examining Victorian skins with this in view it is found that Sericornis 
from most localities show the obscure subterminal band in the tail, while tails 
without such markings are few and far between. From my collection I have 
no hesitation in concluding that the common Sericornis is S. osculans ; this 
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