THE WOMBAT. 49 
respect of its colouration, song and general habits that I think it 
better classed with the Tomtit under the genus Geobasileus and 
separated from the Acanthizae. Its only close resemblance to the 
Acanthizue is in its nidification: the nest is smaller and a great 
deal more compact than the Tomtits’, and is placed either on the 
ground at the foot of a tuft of bush herbage, or (more usually in 
this forest) in a recess in the bark of a large tree. Otherwise it 
appears to be descended almost recently from a common ancestor 
with the Tomtit: each form being modified therefrom to suit its 
particular environment. Note the quieter colours and soberer 
song of the Buff-rumped Tit, and compare it in these respects with 
the bright little bird of the sunlit roadside hedges that sings as 
Gould noted so like the English Goldfinch. 
The Scarlet-breasted Robins and Brown Flycatchers ( Micreca 
fascinans) were at first numerous, but became scarcer as we 
proceeded further into the bush, and we heard now the Striated Tits 
(A. lineata) from the topmost messmate twigs, ceaselessly with 
faint twittering bunting their insect food. Well after dark we 
pedalled into Anglesea, having got over the 25 miles without 
mishap. ‘The road had been good all the way, especially the nine 
unmetalled miles from Jan Juc. 
Next morning we awoke early to the music of Harmonious 
Thrushes (Collyriocincla harmonica) and White-eared Honeyeaters 
(Ptilotis leucotis), and looking out toward the sea, descried a pair of 
hawks circling over the marshy ground. I decided upon a swim in 
the creek, so walked about half a mile along the eastern bank 
through the ti-tree scrub to the bathing place. On the other side 
T heard Tasmanian Honeyeaters (Lichmera Australasiana), and 
J also noted the Summer Bird (Graucalus melanops), Wattle Bird 
(Acanthochera carunculata), Short-billed Honeyeater (Melithreptus 
brevirostris) and a Pardalote: but there was not much variety of 
species, and I felt disappointed. Welcome Swallows (Hirundo 
neoxena) had a nest on a rafter in the boat-house by which [ bathed. 
The swim over, I left the flat land by the river and struck into 
the messmate country on the hillside. Here the Striated Tits were 
yery numerous, and a Parrakeet, which so far, as I could make out 
was the Orange-bellied (Wuphema chrysogastra), flew from a tree 
near me and away to a distant hill. An open heath of twenty or 
thirty acres, carpeted with blue and yellow flowers, was the home of 
many Fulvous-fronted Honeyeaters, and in a gully to the south a 
pair of Chocolate Birds (Chthonicola sagittata) got up from some 
coarse grass, bat I could not find a nest. 
A strong north-west wind sprang up during the morning, 
making the conditions unfavourable for observation. We kept to 
the scrubby country, and after patiently watching a pair of Brown 
