2^6 Xi:sTS AA'D i.Gas UA AfSTKALlAN BIRDS. 



occasioually pievail. This agency may likewise account for llie 

 presence of the Eui-apeau Sparrow on Kent Group, which undoubtedly 

 came from Victoria. 



Another cause may be the visitation of great forest lires in Gipps- 

 land, such as occurred in 1897-8. Indeed, Captain Simpson, of the 

 steamer " Thermopyke," did report on that occasion, that when off the 

 Gippsland coast line it was completely obscured, and as immense 

 volumes of smoke cui'lcd up from the fires and were blown seawards 

 by a strong land breeze, thousands of insects and hunck-eds of birds 

 were carried from their haunts far out to sea, numbers ahghting on the 

 rigging and decks of the steamer. 



I have procured White-browed Scrub Wrens from the Big Scrub 

 of New South Wales, and have taken many of their nests ai'tfuUy 

 hidden away in scrub or forest debris in many localities in Victoria, 

 notably in the coastal thickets of tea-tree ( Lcjitux^/ci-minii), where these 

 birds may be said to be plentiful and breed early, some commencing to 

 lay in August. In the season of 1888 I took three nests with each 

 three eggs, on the 6tli August. The following year, in September, 

 1 noticed five or six freshly-built nests, and one containing three 

 fresh eggs. 



Mr. C. F. Belcher reports that at the end of July, 1893, he took 

 six nests, with eggs, of a Seritornis, in the Polygonum scrub. Lake 

 Connewan-e. I did not see a slun, but I believe the bird to be refer- 

 able to this species. Some of the nests were on the gi-ouud, others 

 were placed in tca^tree (Mrlaleucu), at a height varying from seven to 

 eleven feet above ground. 



Although tliis Scnib Wren usually builds low, I also recollect taking 

 a nest with eggs, ten or twelve feet from the ground, or rather above 

 water, near the tops of some melaleuca, on Pliilhp Island, Western 

 Port, October, 1880. 



Breeding mouths July to November or December. 



Regarding the Wiiite-browed Scnib Wren, and from knowledge 

 gained through a correspondent in the Heytesljury Forest, Mr. lloberl 

 Hall states : — " Before any sign of a nest was shown, a Seiicornis placed 

 a few grasses together in a thick-leafed bush, and continued to increase 

 the mass for thirty minutes, when it discontinued, and gave vent to a 

 number of grating notes to make up for lost vocal time, and appealed 

 to its mate, who had been hojjping about branches close by watching 

 the ojjeration, for a recognition of its work. This was at 1 1 a.m., and 

 it then adjourned work till G a.m. the following morning, wlien one 

 hour's work was given to the nest, during the whole of which time a 

 series of peculiar grating calls was given olf, and notliing more was 

 done until the same hour of the tliird morning (18th September, 189G), 

 when the I'ooniy cell of homogeneous plant-matter received liie addition 

 of an inner wall of another grassy material (mainly old withered leaves), 

 The bird now made an nlteration in it« tinic tal)le, and during the 

 fourth, fifth and sixtii mornings, laboured from about an hoiu before 

 noon to an hour after, working leisurely throughout the time until the 

 lining was completed. On the seventh day the first egg was laid; 

 colour brownish-purple spots and sliort streaks on a ground of lighter 



