292 Brookes, Spread of Prickly Pear by Scrub-Turkey, [.^f Ap^ii 



General Observations. 



In carrjdng out the soil tests, it was noted that when the plants 

 were about an inch high the leaves were eaten off, by what agency 

 I was unable to ascertain. 



It was also noted that the young seedlings are very delicate. 

 Exposure to sun and high temperature shortly after germination 

 will cause them to shrivel up close to the soil and fall over, the 

 leaves remaining green for some time after. 



When the enormous crop of pear fruit that is produced annually 

 is taken into consideration, the fact that the seed germinates 

 readily is of interest. Much of this seed is transported over 

 considerable stretches of country by floods and heavy rains. 

 Fortunately, a very large proportion of the resultant plants must 

 perish shortly after germination, the factors above mentioned 

 contributing largely to this end. — Queensland AgricnlUiral Journal, 

 January, 1919. 



Notes on Chestnut-rumped Ground' Wren (Hylacola 



pyrrhopygia, Vig. and Hors.) 



By p. a. Gilbert, R.A.O.U. 



Broadly speaking, the distribution of the Chestnut-rumped 

 Ground- Wren extends from the coastal regions of New South 

 Wales into Victoria. It is, however, most numerous along the 

 sandstone ridges of the County of Cumberland, N.S.W., where it 

 is resident, and which constitutes its breeding haunts. I have 

 seen odd pairs at Ourimbah, 56 miles, and at Dora Creek, 80 miles 

 north of Sydney, and also on ridges of the Barrengary Mountains, 

 near Moss Vale, about 100 miles south. Around Sydney this 

 species shows a decided preference for the sandstone areas clothed 

 with the numerous representatives of the orders of plants 

 ProteacecB, Riitacece, and EpacridacecB, including the stunted 

 apple-tree {Angophora cordifolia). Very few species of other birds 

 are to be found in the localities frequented by Hylacola pyrrho- 

 pygia. Of the two sexes the male is the bolder, and when one 

 has mastered his call notes he can be lured out into the open with 

 ease. In the springtime, when breeding is in full swing, I have 

 induced him to come within a yard or two, and once when I had 

 captured a young bird which had just left the nest I imitated his 

 call and simultaneously made the young one squeak, which tactics 

 succeeded in bringing him within hand's reach. He was indeed 

 a beautiful specimen, and all the while I held the youngster he 

 ran around me whistling at his best. Personally, I consider him 

 to be one of our sweetest and most melodious songsters. He is 

 an exquisite mimic, the birds whose notes I have identified so far 

 being the Fan-tailed Cuckoo, Rufous-breasted Whistler, Yellow- 

 breasted Wliistler, Grey Shrike-Thrush, and the Spine-billed, 



