| OCR Text |
Show 572 MR. RAMSAY ON THE FOSTERPARENTS OF CUCKOOS. [Dec. 13, branches of almost any tree or bush, where it seeks for minute insects and the larvae of various minute Lepidoptera. Nest of Acanthiza lineata. The nest of the Lineated Acanthiza is one of the most beautiful of those of our Australian birds. It is a neat, oval, compact, and remarkably strong structure, in length 4\ to 5 inches, by 3 inches through, composed of fine shreads of stringy bark, closely interwoven, and frequently ornamented with pieces of white spiders' nests. It is lined warmly with feathers, opossum-fur, or the silky down from the seed-pods of the native cotton-tree. The nest is suspended to a thin twig at the end of some leafy bough by the top ; and the small opening, about 2 inches down the side, is neatly covered with a hood, which excludes both the sun and rain. Some of the nests are without any ornament; others are decorated with pieces of white paper-bark, or with green and white spiders' nests. Long streamers of bleached seaweed are also often used ; and when the nests are placed in the gullies of the ranges, a beautiful bright-green string-like Hypnum is employed. |
