CISCLORAMPnUS. 



333 



The rich organ-like notes of the male are usually uttered while it mounts up high in the 

 air, and is accompanied with a tremulous motion of the wings. They are extremely loud and 

 melodious, and may be heard a considerable distance away. As a songster it ranks in New 

 South Wales with the acclimatised Skylark ('.•I /(7;/(/(J a rvaisis J, which is common in the same 

 haunts at Randwick and Botany. Captain Sturt, who in 1849 bestowed the vernacular name 

 of "Singing-Lark" on this species, remarks: — "This bird is good eating."'^ 



From Point Cloates, North-western Australia, Mr. Tom Carter writes me: — "Ciiiclnrainphiis 

 cniralis is a common winter visitor, both on the coast and inland, where its loud cheerful song 

 may be heard all day and sometimes at night. The nest, a neatly rounded structure, is 

 placed in a tussock of grass, and eggs may be found from June to September, accordmg to 

 the season." 



Dr. W. Macgilli\ray has kindly sent me the following notes:— '' Ciuilorampkiis cniralis was 

 very plentiful during the seasons 1897 and 1898, in the Hamilton District, \'ictoria, one or 

 more pairs being met with in every well grassed paddock; during the two following years they 

 were not nearly so numerous. One or two first appeared in September, but they did not 

 become plentiful until October. They were soon occupied in nesting operations, and if any 

 one desires to put his patience to the test, a search for this bird's nest can be recommended as 

 an efficient means of doing so. On approaching a locality where there is a nest, the cock bird, 

 generally perched on a fence, bush, or some other point of vantage, utters a few warning notes, 

 then soars up into the air and passing over the nest warns the female to leave the nest; when 

 assured of this he flies right away from the nest. The female usually leaves the nest very 

 quietly, running through the grass some distance before taking flight, and as she is so much 

 smaller and less conspicuous than her mate this action as a rule passes unobserved. The 

 earliest record I have of eggs being taken is the 6th November, and the latest 15th December. 

 After the eggs are hatched, the song of the cock bird ceases, and as soon as the young are able 

 to fly, they leave the district for northern latitudes. I have not seen a single bird later than 

 the 7th February, and most of them leave in January. I noted this bird for the first time in 

 the Broken Hill District, New South Wales, on the 15th September, 1901. It soon became 

 numerous, and engaged in domestic affairs. In 1902, owing to the drought and complete 

 absence of all herbage, the place looking like a desert for forty miles around, no bird appeared. 

 In 1903, rain did not fall until September, so that our spring was late and was continued owint,' 

 to repeated falls of rain, until late in the summer, even now (25th February) the herbage is 

 everywhere green. These birds were very numerous in October, and soon paired off for 

 breeding purposes; they were in pairs all over the place until January. On 30th January the 

 breeding season was evidently over, as I noted young and old birds in numbers amongst patches 

 of "wild geranium," content there to feed on young grasshoppers. The crops of those shot 

 contained mostly grasshoppers and a few other insects." 



Mr. G. A. Keartland writes me:— "Near my place at Preston, \'ictoria, I took a set of 

 three slightly incubated eggs oi Cimloramphiis cvuraUs on the ist January. 1904. I knew that the 

 bird laid again, but did not find the nest. However, my son William was near the spot on the 

 nth February following. The old birds fluttered around him, and he discovered and eventually 

 succeeded in catching a young one that was unable to fly far. This is very late breeding." 



The nest of this species consists of a deep cup-shaped hole in the ground, lined entirely 

 with dried grasses. An average one measures externally three inches in diameter by three 

 inches and a half in depth. Usually it is formsd close to or underneath a tuft of overhanging 

 grass or weeds, and the hole is often made in a slanting direction so as to be more closely 

 concealed by the surrounding vegetation. 



Exped. Cent. Austr.. Vol. ii., App., p. 31 (1849). 



