Crown of the head, all the upper surface, wings and tail olive-brown,
the forehead and tail becoming rufous brown; throat and chest brownish
white; abdomen greyish white, passing into bright olive-green on the
lower part of the flanks; bill black; feet light brown; irides brown.
The figures represent a male and a female of the natural size.
[Illustration:
ACANTHIZA PUSILLA.
_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _Hullmandel & Walton Imp._
]
ACANTHIZA PUSILLA.
Little Brown Acanthiza.
_Sylvia pusilla_, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp., p. lvi.
_Motacilla pusilla_, White’s Journ., pl. in p. 257.
_Bec-fin_, Temm. Man. d’Orn. 2nd edit., tom. i. p. lxviii.
_Dwarf Warbler_, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p. 251.—Shaw, Gen.
Zool., vol. x. p. 647.—Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. vii. p. 134.
_Acanthiza pusilla_, Vig. & Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 227,
note.
The present bird is very generally dispersed over New South Wales, where
it inhabits the brushes, thickets and gardens. It is most nearly allied
to the _A. Diemenensis_, but may be distinguished from that species by
its more diminutive size, by its much shorter bill and smaller tail. It
is an active prying little bird, and spends much of its time amid the
smaller leafy branches of the trees, from among which it collects its
insect food: the tail is generally carried above the line of the body.
The nest is of a dome-shaped form and is constructed of fine dried
grasses and hairy fibres of bark, intermingled and bound together with
the hairy cocoons of a species of Lepidopterous insect, and lined with
feathers. The eggs are four or five in number, of a beautiful pearly
white, sprinkled and spotted with fine specks of reddish brown, forming
in some instances a zone near the larger end; their medium length is
eight lines and a half by six lines in breadth.
The sexes are so precisely similar in outward appearance, that
dissection must be resorted to to distinguish the one from the other.
Forehead buff, each feather edged with brown; all the upper surface and
wings brown, tinged with olive; tail reddish olive, crossed near the tip
by a narrow band of black; throat and chest greyish white, each feather
margined with black, giving that part a mottled appearance; flanks,
abdomen and under tail-coverts buff; irides brownish red; bill dark
brown; feet brown.
The Plate represents two individuals of the natural size.
[Illustration:
ACANTHIZA DIEMENENSIS: _Gould_.
_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]
ACANTHIZA DIEMENENSIS, _Gould_.
Tasmanian Acanthiza.
_Acanthiza Diemenensis_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. p. 146;
and in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part IV.
_Brown-tail_, Colonists of Van Diemen’s Land.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account