.VESTS A.VD EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BINDS. 



27y 



Mordialloc, Oakleigh, aud other places in Victoria. There are also un- 

 doubted examples of this bird in the National Museum, Melbourne, 

 taJcen in the same colony. 



Moreover, I have no doubt that the eggs procured on Coode Island, 

 at the mouth of the Yarra, by Mr. A. J. Noi'th, and described by liim, 

 axe referable to this species, and not to (J. cii/iipestris. I procuix'd, 

 through my son, birds from the precise locality, aud comparing them 

 with the Tasmaniau bird, can find no diUerence, except that the main- 

 land bird is a trifle smaller (as a general rule, birds of a species found on 

 the mainland are, I find, smaller than the same species from Tasmania). 



JMr. A. E. Brent has found nests of the Striated Field Wren with 

 an admixture of seaweed in their constniction, and placed just above 

 liigh-water mark on the Derwent, Tasmania, a favourite locality being 

 the railway embankment close to that river. 



Presuming the Field Wren foimd on Coode Island is ('. fuligino-^us, 

 Mr. North furnishes interesting details regarding it. 



The bird is one of our earliest breeders. Mr. North cites an 

 instance when eggs were taken 24th of May. On the 17tli June, 1880, 

 he himself found four nests of this species, each containing three fresh 

 eggs. He observes, " The situation chosen for the nest is somewhat 

 varied, sometimes being placed underneath a tuft of rank grass, but 

 moro often have I found it artfully concealed at the bottom of a 

 low, stunted thick slinib growing in the wet and swampy gi-ound at the 

 mouth of the YaiTa. Tlic nest is rounded in form, composed of gi-asses 

 and lined with feathers ; the nests found at the mouth of the Yarra were 

 all composed exteriorly of an aquatic weed. The bird at times sits very 

 close. On one occasion, wlien the nest was built in the grass, the bird 

 allowed itself to be trodden upon before leaving its eggs, which were in 

 an advanced state of incubation." 



Breeding months. May or Jime (but generally August) to December 

 or January. 



227. — Calamanthus campestris, Gould. — (238) 



FIELD WREN. 



/•'i/jiac— Gould ; Birds of -Vustralia, fol., vol. iii , pi. 71 

 Reference— Cai. Birds Brit Mus., vol. vii., p. 502. 



Vicvioiis DescriptiO)is 0/ Kij^'S.— Gould ; Birds of Australia (184S); also 

 Handbook, vol. i., p. 390 (1865). 



Gmgraphical Dutrihution. — Victoria (?), South and West Australia. 



Nest. — A globulai" stimcture, composed of gi-asses aud feathers, and 

 placed upon the ground (Gould). 



Eyi/s. — Clutch, thiee to four ; round oval in form ; texture of shell 

 fine ; surface glossy ; colour, rich or dark vinaceous-bufF, deepening into 

 rich chocolate or chestnut-brown on the apex. Dimensions in inches 

 of a pair from Port Lincoln, South Australia: (1) '81 x -6, (2) -8 x -6 

 (Mr. J. W. Mellor's collection). 



