oyS NESTS A.YD EGGS Of AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



Exception, as we say, proves the rale. Sometimes an odd Rufous 

 Song Lark remains in its summer quarters. I recollect seeing one in 

 a bush paddock near Clieltenham during the winter 1880. It was then 

 a silent bird. Again, near the same locality, my son saw a pair and 

 .shot one of the birds, 12th Jime, 1897. 



During mid-winter, 1899, some of these birds were breeding near 

 Point Cloates, West Australia. 



226. — Calamanthus fuliginosus, Vigors and Horsfield. — (237) 



STRIATED FIELD WREN. 



Figure. — Gould; Birds of Australia, fol.. vol iii., pi. 70 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus , vol. vii , p 501. 



Previous Descriptions 0/ Eg(;s. — Gould: Birds of Australia (1848): also 



Handbook, vol. i., p. 3S8 (1865); North: Austn. Mus. Cat., p. 147 



(1889). 



Geagreiphical Distrihiilioii. — New South Wales, South and West (?) 

 Australia and Tasmania. 



Nest. — Roundish in form, dome-shaped, with side entrance ; out- 

 wardly constiiicted of dark, dead herbage, grass, leaves, etc., mixed with 

 moss, then a good pi}' of fine, dead gi'ass, Mned inside with feathers, fur 

 and hair. Usually placed on the ground or on the side of a bank, 

 concealed in grass, rushes, or the centre of a low bush. Dimensions 

 outwardly, 4 inches in breadth by 5 inches in length; entrance, li 

 inches across. (See illustration.) 



Ef/(/.s. — Clutch, three to four ; roundish in form but much pointed 

 at one end ; texture of shell fine ; surface glossy ; colour, vinaceous-buff 

 with a broad belt of reddish or purplish-brown round the apex, or with 

 an indistinct patch of that coloiu' on the apex. Some examples are 

 more of a purjDlish tone, with cloudy markings, more or less, all over 

 the surface. Dimensions in inches of a Ta.smanian clutch : (1) '83 x -64, 

 (2) ■82x-65, (3) ■81x-62; of a pair from the mainland: (1) 82 x -6, 

 (2) •82X-58. (Plate 11.) 



Oliserratidiis. — This Wren-like bird, with its pretty warble, which 

 seems to keep time to the movement of its erect tail, claimed my 

 attention in Tasmania, where one nest was found on the ground in the 

 centre of a low gorse bush. 



The Field Wren may be described as a striped bird, with a gi-eenish 

 wash on the upper surface, wliile the under parts have a brownish tinge. 

 There is a distinctive white line over each eye. Length 41 inches, 

 wing 2i inches, tail 2J- inches, bill h inch, tarsus g inch. 



Some Tasmania n collectoi-s call the bird by the somewhat uneupho- 

 nious name of " Stink Bird," or " Stinker," because of its peculiar scent, 

 which will cause sporting dogs sometimes to " set ' the bird. 



I have noticed this same species on the mainland, notably at 



