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.
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.