AMYTIS. 249 



samphire, salt-bush, or spinifex, and seldom shows itself in open country. Occasionally it 

 may be seen in the distance perched on a low mulfja bush, or hopping about the ground in 

 quest of food. It prefers running to flight, and is furnished with a strong pair of legs, carry- 

 ing as much flesh on them as on the breast, but owing to the rough cover it frequents, the 

 feathers are frequently worn off the upper parts of the thighs. At all stages, from the newly 

 feathered young to the adult, the plumage is the same irrespective of sex. In passing where 

 these birds are numerous, a low cheeping note is heard, but the bird will submit to the tussock 

 being kicked before it flutters or runs to the next bush or tussock. They are very difficult to 

 capture if wounded, as they run and hide like mice. At Brookman Creek I tore a low bush 

 to pieces to find a bird I had winged, and after removing the last piece found it buried under a 

 few dead leaves. These birds build close to the ground beside a tussock. The nest, which 

 is loosely constructed of dried grasses, is a domed open-sided one, in which the eggs are 

 plainly discernible." 



The eggs are usually two in number for a sitting, oval or thick oval in form, the shell 

 being close-grained, smooth, and slightly lustrous. Typically they are of a reddish-white 

 ground colour, some specimens being almost pure white, which is thickly freckled or covered 

 with small irregular-shaped spots and blotches of rich red or reddish-brown and fainter under- 

 lying markings, predominating chiefly on the larger end, where they frequently assume the form 

 of a well defined zone: — Length (A) 077 x o-6 inches; (B) 077 x o-6 inches. A set of two, taken 

 by Mr. C. E. Cowle on the 12th February, 1896, measures: — Length (A) 0-82 x 0-62 inches; (B) 

 077 X 0-62 inches. One egg is uniformly marked, the other distinctly zoned onthe thicker end. 

 Eggs of the different species of this genus resemble those of some types oi Cincloraiiiphiis nifcsccns, 

 and small eggs of C. cvuralis, and to a less degree those of Climaderis erythrops. 



!\Ir. Cowle informs me that in Central Australia the breeding season oi Auiytis textilis, like 

 that of many other species depends entirely upon the season. Usually it is after the first heavy 

 rains at the beginning of the year; nests with eggs being more often found in February, March, 

 and April. In Western Australia Mr. Keartland secured a pair of fledgelings, unable to fly, 

 during the month of August. 



Amytis modesta. 



THICK-BILLED GBASS-WREN. 

 Amytis textilis (nee Quoy & Gaim.), Gould, Bds. Austr., fol., Vol. III., pi. 28 (1848). 

 Amytis textilis, North, Rep. Horn Sci. Exped., Zool., p. 79 (1886), (part). 

 Amytis modesta, North, Vict. Nat., Vol. XIX., p. 10;i (1902). 



Adult .male — Like the adult male of Amytis textilis, Quoy <& Gaimard, but distinguished 

 from that species in having the head and upper parts of a much paler brown ; the line extending 

 from, the nostril above the anterior portion of the eye of a very pale rust-red; the throat whitish; 

 remainder of the under surface pale isabelline, slightly darker on the sides of the neck and breast, the 

 former indistinctly streaked ivith white ; sides of the abdomen, ^flanks, thighs, and under tail-coverts 

 pale isabelline-brown : the bill, too, is deeper in shape and 7iot so pointed at the tip as in that of 

 A. TEXTILIS. Total length 6:5 inches, wing 2-55, tail 32, bill 0-1^2, depth at nostril 0-22, breadth 

 at nostril 0'2, tarsus 0-95. 



Adult fe.male — Similar in plumage to the male, but having indications, more or less, of a 

 rust-red patch on each side of the breast. 



Distribution. — Central Australia, South Australia, New South Wales. 

 ,OME of the birds brought back by the Horn Scientific Expedition from Central 

 Australia, and regarded by me as the immature female of Amytis textilis, Mr. 

 G. A. Keartland has always contended belonged to a distinct species. In support of his 



