''''\ir] S/ray /rat/wrs. 323 



proper the only l)ir(ls that were noted above the tree Hne were 

 an undetermined species of Quail and the Pipit {.Inthiis aus- 

 tralis). The Friar I'.ird, a small .Icanthiza, and the Flame- 

 breasted Robin \entured up as far as the trees went, but the 

 open grass and heather, although filled with an amazing amount 

 of insect life, was not attractive to the birds, probably on account 

 of sudden snow storms that occasionally sweep down, even in 

 midsummer, and the very low' temperature after sundown.— 

 A. S. Le Souef, C.M.Z.S., Taronga I'ark, Sydney. 



The Moult of the Blue Wren.— The idea that the Blue 

 Wren (Mahirus) throws off his coloured plumage m 

 <iutumn and goes all the winter in plain brown and grey, 

 except for a bluish-tinted tail, must, I think, have been 

 •originally put forth by the early settlers in New South 

 Wales and Tasmania. These men, going about their daily work 

 on the land, and noticing parties of long-tailed wrens, nearly all 

 in ])lain ])lumage, hopj^ing about them to pick up the insects from 

 logs recently split or from earth freshly turned, would naturally 

 conclude that a considerable percentage of each party must be 

 males in winter dress, an odd blue one here or there being put 

 down as a freak. The notion, however it originated, became 

 very widely disseminated, and was imbibed by myself, both from 

 books and viz'a -roce, on first coming to live in the Tasmanian 

 bush. It was, therefore, a puzzle to account for an adult male 

 in most brilliant plumage, accompanied by a party of "browns," 

 which always used to turn up and come hopping about my feet, 

 when I was working amid the timber in June and July, the coldest 

 months of the year. On visiting other selections, similar parties 

 weie noticed, each accompanied by its bright, particular star, 

 and I was at length forced to the conclusion that paterfamilias 

 kept his uniform all through the cold months, and that his party 

 of "browns" consisted of his spouse and the two broods of the 

 ])revious spring. In my paper giving details of the life history 

 -of the Tasmanian Blue' Wren (called in Mathews' Hand-list, 

 1908, M alums cyancns, Ellis — now usually known as M. cyaneus 

 longicaiidus) , in Emu, vol. ix., pp. 151-155, it is stated "thatinniy 

 opinion the reported change of plumage in the adult male from 

 blue to brown in autumn, and vice versa, in spring, reqiures a 

 great deal more ]iroof before being accepted as a tact, with re- 

 gard to the Tasmanian si)ecies, at any rate" (p. 154). 



During the past ten years I have given a good deal of atten- 

 tion to the matter, and am now satisfied that the facts are as 

 follow : — The moult takes place, not in autumn, but in summer, 

 usually commencing about the middle of February, our warmest, 

 driest month, going on through March, equally dry, and almost 

 etpially warm, and by the end of April (in which month the 

 atmosphere is still quite mild, but moister) the change is usually 

 ■complete, and the Superb ^^^1rbler henceforth merits his "proud" 



