NESTS A.VD EGGS OF AUSTKAUAA' BIRDS. 173 



I had been seeking persistently but in vain at King George's Sound 

 and Geograplie Bav for eggs of the " BUie Bird. " On the lower Swan 

 River I obtained my reward threefold. On tiie limestone hills behind 

 Fremantle, wliiili are covered chielly with a stiff-leaved scnib called 

 dryandiia, I found my first nest biulding in a thick hakea bush, and before 

 I finally left the district I had the pleasure of taking from that nest 

 a set of pearly speckled eggs for my collection ; a second nest was 

 found building in an acacia bush near the Point Walter slip-panels, from 

 which eggs were also secured ; while a tliird nest I detected was situated 

 in a dead prickly acacia, and contained a pair of egg.s. Not far distant 

 from tliis hu-it-mcntioncd nest I saw fom- beautiful male birds chasing 

 each other through the scnib, and describing as they flew lovely cuxles 

 of blue. 



Breeding months chiefly October, November and December. The 

 three nests I found with eggs were all taken towards the end of November. 



144. — Malurus lf.ucopterus, Quoy and Gaimard. — (194) 



WHITE-WINGED WREN. 



F<^K)c — Gould : Birds of Australia, fol.. vol. iii,, pi. 25. 



Reference. -Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. iv., p. 290 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Gould: Birds of Australia (184S), also 



Handbook, vol i., p. 332 (1865); Ramsay: Proc. Linn See, 



N.S. Wales, vol. vii., p. 49 (1SS2). 



Geex/raphical Di.^frihufion. — New South Wales, Victoria, Soutli, West, 

 and North-west Australia. 



Xest. — Small, oval, covered, with side entrance near the top ; composed 

 of dead, gi'cyish " bai'ley "-grass, and lined inside with fur, wool, or other 

 soft material. Usually situated in a low bush in open or plainy countiy. 



Effg^. — Clutch, three to four ; roimdish in form ; texture of shell very 

 fine ; surface sUghtly glossy ; coloiu", white, ^nth a slight pinkish tinge, 

 minutely freckled with purplish-bi'own, more tliickly about the larger end. 

 In other examples the markings are more blotched, and mostly upon the 

 apex. Dimensions in inches of a full clutch : (1) -6 x -45, (2) '6 x '46, 

 (3) -6 X -44, (4) -59 X -45 ; of a somewhat large pair: (1) -67 x •48. 

 (2) -65 X -47. 



Observations. — The White-winged Wren is one of the least of its 

 family, and is restricted to interior locaUties, such as salt^bush and 

 cotton-bush plains in New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. 

 It has also been obtained at Point Cloatcs, near the North-west Cape. 

 It is somewhat singidar that Dr. Ramsay placed a queiy against this 

 species for the West Australian column in his " Tabular List " of distri- 

 bution. He had evidently forgotten that Quoy and Gaimard's type was 

 taken on Dirk Hartog Island. 



