Vo'jXX"- LORD, Kent Island Scnih-Wren 305 



On the Nest and Eggs of the Kent Island 



Scrub- Wren 



(Sericornis frontalis gularis, Legge) 



By CLIVE LORD, F.L.S., the Tasmanian Museum, Il(jl)art. 

 The Kent Island form of the mainland White-browed Scrub 

 Wren (Sericornis frontalis, Vig and Hors.) has always been an 

 interesting species to the ornithologist. Owing to the limited 

 area (jf its range, and the fact that the Kent Group is so seldoni 

 visited by natural histoty workers, the species has not had a 

 very great deal of attention i)aid to it. Some information was 

 gathered when the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria visited the 

 Kent Group in 1890, and in the Victorian Naturalist, vol. xiii., 

 p. 84, Colonel Legge proposed the specific name of S. (/itlaris for 

 this form. 



Mr. A. J. Campbell ("Nests and Eggs of Australian Birds," 

 p. 245) refers to the differences which are to be found in the 

 insular form, but does not describe the nest and eggs separately. 



Recently I wrote to Mr. Campbell on the subject, and in the 

 course of an instructive reply concerning the species he stated 

 that he believed the nest and eggs were undescribed to date. 



Recently Mr. Hollingsworth, of Glenorchy, asked me to 

 describe the nest and several clutches of eggs of this species,, 

 which he had obtained some time ago. He also supplied me with 

 the date, etc., concerning the time of taking the eggs. 



The general appearance of such specimens as I have for com- 

 parison tends to show that the Kent Island eggs differ somewhat 

 from the mainland S. frontalis — in fact, in some cases they tend 

 towards the appearance of the eggs of the Brown Scrub Wren 

 (S. hiunilis) of Tasmania and the Bass Strait Islands, but it 

 would need a longer series of specimens of each species than I 

 have at my disposal before this could be accepted as a true 

 general characteristic. Another point is that the Kent Island 

 variety appears to lay but two eggs in each clutch, whereas with 

 the mainland S. frontalis the usual clutch is three. 



The exact position of the species or sub-species needs to be 

 determined, but this requires further material than is available 

 at present. The following brief description of the specimens 

 submitted by Mr. Hollingsworth may prove of interest : 



Nest: Of the Sericornis type, roundish, compact-looking, in 

 spite of the fact that it is loosely constructed of grass woven 

 together with very fine twigs and small roots. Lining composed 

 of fine grass and a thin layer of feathers. External dimensions : 

 Vertical diameter, 160 mm. (6.{ inches) ; entrance, 30 mm. (1^ 

 inches). 



Clutch: Apparently two, stout oval in shape. The general 

 colour being very pale buff with spots and blotches of umber. 



