ORIGMA RUBRICATA.
Rock-Warbler.
Sylvia rubricata, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp., p. li.—Bonn. et Vieill. Ency. Méth. Orn., part ii. p. 461.
Ruddy Warbler, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p. 249.—Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. x. p. 697.—Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. vii. p. 138.
Motacilla solitaria, Lewin, Birds of New Holl., pl. 16.
Solitary Flycatcher, Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. vi. p. 220.
Saxicola solitaria, Vig. & Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 236.
Origma solitaria, G. R. Gray, List of Gen. of Birds, 2nd Edit., p. 30.
Perhaps no one of the smaller birds of New South Wales has attracted a greater share of the attention of ornithologists than the present; a desire indeed of gaining a more complete knowledge of its habits and manners has been generally expressed. Aware of this fact, I made myself as much acquainted therewith as circumstances would admit; and found that they are very peculiar, and different from those of most other birds. Its usual places of resort are the neighbourhood of water-courses and stony, rocky gullies; so exclusively in fact is it confined to such situations, that it never visits the forests, nor have I ever seen it perching on the branches of the trees; indeed it would seem to have an aversion to so doing, as it does not even resort to them as a resting-place for its nest, but suspends it to the ceilings of caverns and the under surface of overhanging rocks in a manner that is most surprising; the nest, which is of an oblong, globular form, and composed of moss and other similar substances, is suspended by a narrow neck, and presents one of the most singular instances of bird architecture that has yet come under my notice. The breeding-season extends over the months of September, October and November, when it is not unusual to find three or four nests suspended to the ceiling of a small dark cavern. I did not succeed in procuring its eggs.
Its food consists of insects of various kinds.
Its note is a low, squeaking sound, which it utters while hopping about the rocks with its tail raised above the level of the body, after the manner of some of the Acanthizæ.