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Show 574 MR. RAMSAY ON THE FOSTERPARENTS OF CUCKOOS. [Dec. 13, ferent. It is of au oblong form, and placed among the topmost twigs of some bushy shrub, composed of red shreds of stringy bark and grasses, and often beautifully decorated with green mosses and lichens, and lined with native cotton-tree down, feathers, or fine grasses. The entrance, which is about \\ inch from the top, having its edges but roughly finished off, and not covered by any hood, is 1 inch in width. The Yellow Acanthiza shows a decided preference for the tops of the native tea-trees; but its nest may also be found in various other trees and shrubs, but always placed among the outside twigs. W e have taken nests from a species of Acacia overhanging the creeks and rivers. Sometimes they are wholly composed of fine strips of stringy bark, which, when new, give them a reddish-brown appearance. At other times they are composed of dry grass, a great quantity of white cobweb being used in all cases. The total length of the nest of A. nana is 3 inches, by 2\ in breadth, being somewhat narrower at the bottom. The eggs are three in number, from fa to faf of an inch in length and -fa in breadth, strongly blotched, dotted, or freckled with dark dull reddish brown, inclining to chocolate in some, to red in others, and having a few dots of dull lilac towards the larger end. In some specimens the markings form a zone on the thick end; in others they are equally dispersed over the whole surface, and take the form of irregular blotches. The birds may be found breeding in September and the three following months, and are frequently the fosterparents of the Bronze Cuckoo. 3- THE SCRUB-ACANTHIZA. Acanthiza pusilla, Gould's Birds of Australia, iii. pi. 53. To complete the list of Acanthizas I may make a few remarks upon the present species ; but I am afraid I cannot add much to the stock of knowledge already given in Mr. Gould's valuable ' Handbook' to his ' Birds of Australia.' A lover of the scrubs and thick bushes, this species, although plentiful, is not so often met with as the other members of its genus. In its habits it seems to be intermediate between Geobasileus and the true Acanthiza?, being frequently seen on the ground as well as in the trees. I have never noticed it mounting high among the branches, nor does it appear to like thinly wooded districts, showing a decided preference for the brushwood and edges of scrubs. Upon every occasion that we have discovered its nest it has been placed within a few inches of the ground. One I have at present before me is suspended to the underside of a fern (Pteris aquilina) : it is a closely interwoven, dome-shaped structure, in form closely resembling that of A. lineata, but differs from it in the outside being made as rough as possible, with coarse pieces of strong bark and leaves of grasses, which hang down and stick out from it in various directions ; it is composed chiefly of stringy bark and the white paper-like bark of the tea-tree, lined with cotton-tree down and feathers; length 4 inches, by 3 in breadth. The eggs, three in number, have a pure-white ground, zoned at the larger end with freckles of light reddish |
