THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
and up. Three days later the spot was visited and it was noticed that the 
work was suspended, but on the 21st the nest contained three fresh eggs. Both 
help to feed the young and they also divide the task of incubation, feeding 
one another on the nest.” 
Mr. L. G. Chandler wrote me : “I was watching a pair of these birds at 
Frankston beginning their nest-building when I noticed another pair of the 
same species fly into the tree. Upon the former pair flying off for more 
material, the latter pair coolly appropriated some that had been collected and 
placed in position and flew away with it to construct their own nest. It was 
late in the evening and camp being miles away I had not time to follow the 
second pair of birds. A visit the fortnight later found the first nest had not been 
completed.” 
Mr-. Edwin Ashby and Captain S. A. White both write me that they have 
never collected tins species in South Australia, though not rare in Victoria, 
Batey wrote from near Melbourne, Victoria: “ A good fifty years have gone 
since this bird was seen, the trees having been removed; previously, a 
permanent resident.” 
From Mr. Gilbert’s observations I gather that: “ The eggs take twelve to 
thirteen days to incubate. The young remain in the nest for thirteen or fourteen 
days. As the young grow from day to day, the parent birds are enabled to 
leave them for considerable lengths of time. Nature, in her many experiments, 
has taught the young the necessity of relaxing and exercising their wings before 
undertaking the risky move of leaving the nest. Many imitations of the flying 
movement of the wings are fulfilled by the young, which toughen and tighten 
their sinews and develop their wing and body muscles. From all appearances, 
it is a time of great anxiety for the parent birds in keeping their young together 
once they quit the nest. Long after they have left the nest they are 'waited 
on by the parents, who are tireless in their efforts to meet the appeals for food 
expressed by gapes and vibrating wings of their ravenous young. 
“ Lastly, the peculiar methods this bird adopts when searching for insects 
may be referred to. As it hops down the branch it throws itself from one side 
to the other, so that its downward inspection of the chinks in the bark, on both 
sides of the branch, is achieved in one descent. As soon as one branch has been 
examined it either commences its search in the larger crevices of the trunk, 
or flies to the top of another branch.” 
Le Souef and Macpherson have written regarding the birds of Sydney, 
the type locality of the species : “ The Treerunners (Neositta chrysoptera ) 
are specialists on the eucalypts, feeding on the small black ants that they 
find on the bark. One can generally find them in the vicinity of the parks 
and large gardens, and they always seem very busy and in a hurry. Each 
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