A&STS AXD EGGS Of AUSTRALIAN BIKOS. 215 



spidora cocoons 011 iho outside ; iuside lined with tine grass, <fec. ; usual 

 situation, about a foot from tliu groiuid, in thick, short sci-ub. Dimensions : 

 length, -1^ inches; breadth, 3 inches; entrance, 1 inch across. 



Egg8. — Clutch, three, occasionally four; lengthened-oval in form; 

 texture very fine ; sui-face glossy ; colom% pcai-ly-white, spotted all over 

 (hko those of the Blue Wren, Malurus ci/aitcus, only redder), but some- 

 times with a large pateh on the apex, and very few m;u-kings elsewhere, 

 of rich reddish-chestnut. Eggs large compared with the size of the bird. 

 Dimensions in inches of two pairs: A (1) -7 x '49, (2) •67x'48; 

 B (1) -67 X -54, (2) -66 x A'J. (Plate 10.) 



Observations. — This remarkable httle bird enjoys a somewhat extensive 

 habitat, seeing it is found in favoured localities from Southern Queensland 

 round lo South-west Australia. 



The Emu Wren is by no means a scarce bird, but as it frequents 

 dense grass beds and rushes of low swampy districts, its nest is rarely 

 discovered. I have looked for it in vain in pkices where I have observed 

 the birds. When out with a party of field naturalists on 9th November, 

 1884, we came across young which apparently had just left the nest. 



Gould found a nest containing thiee newly-hatched young in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Recherche Bay, Tasmania. The nest, which he described 

 as a small ball-shaped structui'c with rather a hirge opening on one side, 

 was composed of grasses, lined with feathers, and artfully concealed in a 

 tuft of grass. 



Dr. Ramsay gives an interesting account of the finding of his first 

 nest. He says : — " 1 had for many days visited the swamps upon Long 

 Island, where these birds are very plentiful, in hopes of finding them 

 breeding, but it was not until the 25th September, 1861, that I succeeded 

 in discovering a nest, although I had watched them for hours together for 

 several days. While walking along the edge of the swamp, however, this 

 day, I was agi-eeably surprised by distiu'bing a female, which flew from 

 my feet out of an overhanging tuft of grass gi-owing only a few yards 

 from the water's edge. Upon hfting up the leaves of the grass, wliich 

 had been bent dovm by the wind, I found its nest carefully concealed near 

 the roots, and containing three eggs. As the bird did not fly far, but 

 remained close by in a small swamp-oak '(Casuarina), I had a good oppor- 

 tunity of satisfying myself that it was the veritable Emu Wren. The 

 eggs were, of course, quite warm, and within a few days of being hatched; 

 this may account for the bird being so unvrilhng to leave the spot ; for 

 when I returned about five minutes afterwards the female was perched 

 upon the same tuft of grass, and within a few inches from where I had 

 taken the nest." 



Mr. G. E. Shepherd, Somerville, read some very interesting remarks 

 on the " Nidification of the Emu Wren " before the Field Naturahsts' 

 Club of Victoria, 14th December, 1897. He stated:- — "In the first place 

 I may say that the birds are far from rare, though the eggs are exceedingly 

 so — a fact, no doubt, due to the extreme difficulty experienced in finding 

 the nest. In October, 1892, I foimd my first nest in the following curious 



