NESTS A:\D EGGS OF AV ST HA LI AN BIRDS. ig:; 



The first eggs are usually laid about the middle of October. At the 

 height of the breeding season Reed Warblers appear to build their nests 

 very rapidly. On the '24th November (1888), I visited a strip of sedges 

 in a favoiu'ed locality and found two or three nests building. Going 

 through the same sedges cloven days suljscquently I examined no loss than 

 fourteen nests containing a total of tliirty-eight eggs, mostly fresh, or au 

 average of 2 .' per clutch. 



Respecting tiie Reed Warbler in a more northerly habitat, I possess 

 Mr. Herman Lau's note from South Queensland. He says: — "Reed 

 Warbler — one of our best singers, in all respects like its European 

 cousin — lays three eggs. Sings during incubation at all times, even during 

 the night. Comes to Queensland in the latter end of August, and leaves, 

 after rearing two broods, in Febiiiaiy. Took eggs at Tummavillo, twelve 

 miles south of Yaudilla, 1868." 



Tlie illustration, altiiough conveying a fair idea of tiie nest, is hardly 

 a successful photogi-aph. 



154. — AcRocEPHALus LONGiROSTRis, Gould. — (247) 

 LONG-HILLED REED WARBLER. 



Figure. — Gould: Birds of Australia, fol , vol. iii , pi 38. 

 Reference. — Cat, Birds Brit. Mus., vol. v., p 99. 



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

 Handbook, vol. i., p. 403 (1865). 



Geographical Dixtrihufion. — West and North-west Australia. 



iVfs?. — Similar to that of the eastern species, or, according to Gould, 

 cup-shaped ; composed of soft skins of reeds and dried i-ushes, and placed 

 on four or five upright reeds, at about two feet from the surface of the 

 water. 



Eygs. — Clutch, three to foui- ; colour, dull greenish-white, blotched all 

 over, but particidarly on the larger end, with large and small irregular- 

 shaped patches of olive, some being darker than the others, the 

 lighter-coloured ones appearing as if beneath the surface of the shell. 

 Dimensions : '75 x -63 (Gould). 



Observations. — The Long-billed Reed Warbler of Western Australia is 

 the repi-esentative of the men-y Reed Warbler of eastern parts, and is the 

 larger bird of the two species. 



As in the days of Gilbert, so now, the Long-billed Reed Warbler may 

 be found in the dense reed beds bordering the rivers and waters around 

 Perth. Like its eastern prototype, it rarely shows itself above the reeds. 



I have a particularly pleasant recollection of hearing the cheerful 

 voices (vei^v like our own species) of these birds when I was duck shooting 

 with Mr. R. H. Cowan, Boxing Day, 1889, on the Greenough River, at 

 Wabbagee, about twenty miles from Champion Bay. Being then late in 



