Vol i 92 B IV ‘] EDWARDS, Birds of a NS.IG. Garden 
285 
Tree-Creepers and Tree-Runners (the latter of the Orange- 
winged variety), birds of the open forest mainly, sometimes work 
over moss-covered fences and also pine trunks. After a deluge 
of rain, I found a Tree-Runner which had been drowned in the 
downpour lying under a tree, while a “Willy Wagtail,” with 
wings so soaked as to be incapable of flight, took refuge under 
a verandah. The fall in this instance was a record one for New 
South Wales, and continued steadily for three days and nights. 
The “Willy Wagtail” (Black and White Fantail) and the White- 
shafted Fantail (“Cranky Fan”) sometimes build their beautiful 
cup-nests shrouded in grey spider web, in small trees near the 
house, but another bird of the Fantail group, the Scissors-grinder, 
though it is an occasional visitor, never does so, preferring a more 
secluded nesting site. 
The demure and, alas, too trustful Grey Thrush, with soft 
melancholy call-note, comes in winter, and often falls a prey 
to marauding cats. So, too, does the Peaceful Dove, much given 
to seeking seeds in long grass where—not being a particularly 
alert bird, it is easily stalked and captured by the cunning 
grimalkin. These pretty little Doves build their slight stick nest? 
on horizontal pine boughs, and masses of pine needles caught in 
forks. Parrots, Rosellas and Crimson Parrots chiefly, are not 
infrequent visitors, the latter feeding on the succulent buds 
of a port-wine stained magnolia. The common green parrots, 
too, sometimes shriek from the top of a tall gum, as they 
suck nectar from the white aromatic blossoms. Dollar- 
Birds, with harsh creaking notes and ornate plumage of purplish 
and pale blue and brown, circle around in chase of aerial in¬ 
sects, while the Caterpillar-eaters, pied male and russet-brown 
female, often flutter over the tall grass, darting down at 
intervals to secure some succulent dainty. The “Ground 
Dark” (Australian Pipit), a bird of wide distribution, sometimes 
builds its cosy grass nest, lined with soft feathers, under an over¬ 
hanging tussock, while, in good seasons, odd couples of Stubble 
Quail are not infrequent. 
Blue Wrens (Superb Warblers) are among the common 
garden birds. I have found the cosy nest in a spine a bush, 
Cuckoos of two different species had added—one a bronze, the 
other a red-spotted egg—to the Blue Wrens’ clutch, making five 
eggs in all. Sometimes, but rarely, the Mock Regent Bird 
(Warty-faced or Regent Honeyeater), attired in rich yellow 
brown and black, comes up from the southern coastal scrubs, 
remains a few weeks, and then disappears. It is one of our 
“Beauty Birds.” The Welcome or House Swallow builds its 
mud nest in outhouses, and would build in verandah corners if 
not interfered with, while the “Peewit” (Magpie-Lark) is a fre¬ 
quent and trustful visitor. Diamond Birds—spotted and striped 
bespangled with red, yellow, white, and black, often collect nest¬ 
ing material, such as pliant bark and soft feathers, close to the 
house, while of the larger Cuckoos, the Pallid and Fantail 
