MICRCECA. 
95 
Genus MICBCECA, Gould. 
MICRCECA FASCINANS, Latham. 
Brown Flycatcher. 
Gould, Handbk. Bds. Ausl., Vol. i., sp - 149, p. 258. 
“ This bird, although one of our most common and most sombre- 
coloured, is one of our sweetest songsters. At day-break it may 
be seen perched upon the dead top of some lofty Eucalyptus, 
pouring forth a song of the most cheerful and pleasing strain; its 
notes are varied and may be heard at a considerable distance. 
Mr. Gould remarks that they resemble those of the Chaffinch 
(Fringilla ccelebs). They have a decided preference for perching’ 
while singing, upon the very topmost boughs of the most lofty trees 
from whence they will dart off to capture some insect on the wing, 
and then return to complete their song. They are very tame and 
fearless of man, and will frequently come and perch beside you 
when walking in the fields or bush, wagging their tails from side 
to side — as if perfectly sure they were either privieged birds, or, 
on account of their dull plumage, not worth shooting. The nest 
is small, but very neat and compact, one inch and three-quarters 
across by half an inch deep, composed of grasses sunk in the fork 
of a horizontal bough; the edge is even with or slightly raised 
above the branches, and ornamented with small scales of bark 
securely fastened on with cobwebs and rendered so like the bark 
of the tree, that it is no easy task for one who is unacquainted 
with its habits to discover it. The eggs are two in number, but 
I remember two instances in which we found three in a nest: 
this is however raroly the case. In length they are from eight 
and a-half to ten lines by six to seven lines in breadth. They 
vary considerably in colour, some being of a beautiful bluish-green 
with a zone of brownish-purple and greyish-lilac blotches round 
the centre, and a few dots over the rest of the surface ; in others 
the spots are dispersed equally over the whole. As the eggs fade 
the ground colour becomes very pale, and the markings turn to 
dull reddish-brown. This species ha3 two, and sometimes three 
broods in the year. The peculiar instinct which birds have of 
