250 Whitlock, Birds Breeding in Dampier Archipelago. [,51^™" -i 



perience with another nest built in Ihc sea-grass, and am at a loss to 

 account lor the condition of these nests, which, happily, did not 

 result in their abandonment by the owners. The Black-and-White 

 Wren was still nesting when I left Barrow Island, though young 

 birds had been on the wing quite six weeks previously. A nest I had 

 under observation was commenced and completed, and the first egg 

 laid, within nine days. 



I have since met with what may be historically termed the original 

 form of the Black-and-White W'ren — viz., Malurus leucopterus (Ouoy 

 and Gaimard). This species was recently re-discovered in its original 

 haunt, Dirk Hartog Island, Shark Bay, by no less experienced a 

 field naturalist than Mr. Thos. Carter, M.B.O.U., formerly of this 

 State. Mr. Carter has written a full account of his observations, 

 which, however, were not conducted during the nesting period (see 

 Ibis, 1917, pp. 593-597). I, too, was late for nests and eggs when I 

 landed on Dirk Hartog Island, though I saw young only just able to 

 fly. My visit to Dirk Hartog Island was brief, but I saw enough of 

 the Black-and-White Wren to form the opinion ■ that it is almost 

 identical in its habits with M . edouardi. The character of its haunts 

 differs greatly, however. Dirk Hartog may be described as an 

 island thickly clothed with shrubs, bushes, and herbaceous plants, 

 with little spinifex and few open spaces ; Barrow Island, on the 

 contrary, is an island of spinifex, with only isolated patches of low 

 bush, except in very restricted localities where snake-wood and man- 

 groves are found, and with large open valleys where bird-life is 

 almost absent. 



I found the flight of small birds, especially W^rens, much easier to 

 follow with the eye on Dirk Hartog Island. This may be due both 

 to the dark background of bushes and also to the absence of sun-glare, 

 which is very trying on Barrow Island. 



Eremiornis carteri. Desert-Bird. — Eggs of the Desert-Bird, or 

 " Spinif ex-Bird," as I prefer to call it, were another chief objective 

 of my trip to Barrow Island. In the previous season I had failed in 

 an attempt to obtain these eggs on the Upper Coongan. In that 

 instance I was deceived by the parents carrying small sprays of a 

 woolly-flowered shrub (Trichinium) into the spinifex {Triodia), to 

 feed their young already hatched, when I thought they were only 

 to be used as a lining to their nests. I was somewhat dismayed to 

 find, soon after landing, pairs carrying food into the spinifex with the 

 now — to me — familiar alarm notes. I feared I was this time too 

 late for eggs. I was not long in locating a nest, having watched the 

 parents carrying little moths, grubs, and other small objects into a 

 particular circle of clumps of spinifex. Whilst I was cutting away 

 the clump I suspected contained the nest, the young must have 

 slipped out, as when I reached the nest it was empty. In passing 

 I may mention that the young seem to remain in the nest until their 

 long, broad tails are grown. This may account, perhaps, for the large 

 and somewhat deep cup of the nest, which looks unnecessarily big 

 to accommodate only two young birds. Two, I feel sure, is the 

 usual number of eggs laid, though I do not doubt three may be 

 occasionally found. It was not encouraging to find further pairs 

 feeding young that had already left the nest. However, near my 

 camp I became aware of another pair inhabiting a large patch of 

 mingled Triodia and Spinifex longifolius, which, I felt sure, had not 

 recently nested. The male in this instance called regularly at day- 



