A group of small birds peculiar to Australia, and confined almost exclusively to the southern portion of the country. Their habits lead them to frequent the most retired parts of the forests, damp and secluded places and scrubby gullies where the herbage is thick and dense; but some species are found on the flat islands near the coast, covered with Salsolæ and other shrub-like trees; they usually frequent the ground, over which they pass with celerity, and when their haunts are intruded upon conceal themselves under the fallen or elided herbage. Their flight is peculiar and never protracted, and they all build domed nests like that of the common Wren (Troglodytes Europæus).
| 199. Sericornis citreogularis, Gould | [Vol. II. ] Pl. 46. |
- Muscicapa barbata, Lath. Gen. Hist. vol. vi. p. 215?
| 200. Sericornis humilis, Gould | [Vol. II. ] Pl. 47. |
| 201. Sericornis osculans, Gould | [Vol. II. ] Pl. 48. |
| 202. Sericornis frontalis | [Vol. II. ] Pl. 49. |
| 203. Sericornis lævigaster, Gould | [Vol. II. ] Pl. 50. |
| 204. Sericornis maculatus, Gould | [Vol. II. ] Pl. 51. |
| 205. Sericornis magnirostris, Gould | [Vol. II. ] Pl. 52. |
Subfamily ——?
Genus Acanthiza, Vig. & Horsf.
With the exception of the north coast, the Acanthizæ are dispersed over all the wooded districts of Australia and Van Diemen’s Land; some species frequenting the brushes, while others tenant the shrubs and belts of trees on the plains; others again are only found in such districts as the belts of the Murray.
Like some other large groups at present included under one generic title, the Acanthizæ might be divided with propriety; thus the A. pusilla, A. Diemenensis, &c., which are feeble in structure and strictly arboreal, might form one section; while the A. chrysorrhœa, A. Reguloïdes, &c., which resort to the ground, might form another. The nests of all the species that I have seen are of a domed form like that of the European Wren.
The members of this genus and the Maluri are frequently the foster-parents of the shining Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx lucidus).
| 206. Acanthiza pusilla | [Vol. II. ] Pl. 53. |
| 207. Acanthiza Diemenensis, Gould | [Vol. II. ] Pl. 54. |
| 208. Acanthiza Ewingii, Gould | [Vol. II. ] Pl. 55. |
| 209. Acanthiza uropygialis, Gould | [Vol. II. ] Pl. 56. |
| 210. Acanthiza apicalis, Gould | [Vol. II. ] Pl. 57. |
| 211. Acanthiza pyrrhopygia, Gould | [Vol. II. ] Pl. 58. |
| 212. Acanthiza inornata, Gould | [Vol. II. ] Pl. 59. |
| 213. Acanthiza nana, Vig. & Horsf. | [Vol. II. ] Pl. 60. |
| 214. Acanthiza lineata, Gould | [Vol. II. ] Pl. 61. |
| 215. Acanthiza Reguloïdes, Vig. & Horsf. | [Vol. II. ] Pl. 62. |
| 216. Acanthiza chrysorrhœa | [Vol. II. ] Pl. 63. |