Vol. XX. -j Rovk/ Aiistiui/dsidii Oniilhnlo^isLs' ruimi. lyg 



Rhipidura motacilloides. ISliu k-aiul-W'hiic I'iuilail. ((iniinon 

 around Shark Buv ; breeding; on Dirk llarlo;;. Oclolicr, ioi<'^- A pair 

 bred at a pearlers' camp on I'c-ron Peninsula, the nesi bcinj; arlually 

 placed in Ihe building. 



Graucalus melanops. Hlack-laccd Cuckoo-Slnikc Mr, Cailcr 

 records a single pair on Dirk Harlog. ll is r\i(lcntlv onlv a casual 

 \-isitor. 



Pomatostomus superciliosus. \\liiu-l)ro\\('d ISabblcr. .\bscnl iroin 

 Dirk Hariog. bul lound s])aringly on Pcron. Saw the remains ol 

 old nests. 



Calamanthus campestris hartogi and C. c. peroni. l"ield-\Vrcns. — 

 Tiie I'ield-Wrcn ol Dirk Hartog is said 1)\- Mr. Carter to differ from 

 that on the I'cron Peninsula sufticicntlv to constitute a sub-species. 

 The Dirk Hartog variety is widely distributed over the island, being 

 a common bird, and one of the few that there breaks the silence of 

 the bush with its cheerful little notes. It inhabits the steep slo))cs 

 of the main ridge and also the valleys or headlands covered with low 

 scrub near the coast. It is by no means shy, and is usually observed 

 singing from the topmost spray of some dead bush. 



It must be a very early breeder. By the middle of June ffcdgcd 

 voung were on the wing. Possibly pairs may breed twice in the 

 season, as I found young in the nest in September. I took a nest with 

 three eggs, 28th June. These eggs were somewhat incubated. The 

 female sat closely, only leaving the nest when I was a few feet away. 

 The site chosen was a little mound of earth, with a small heath-like 

 plant growing on the summit. The nest was well concealed. Two 

 other nests were in similar situations, but a fourth was not so care- 

 fully hidden. I was too late for nests on Peron Peninsula, but saw 

 a fair number of birds. Young were on the wing when I landed in 

 the middle of September. There would be nothing rernarkable in 

 the Shark Bay Field-Wrens differing from birds inhabiting the hot 

 interior — say around Lake Austin — where the average rainfall is 

 barely seven inches and the general elevation of the country about 

 1,300 feet ; but it requires a fine discrimination to detect differences 

 in plumage in local clans of a species separated from one another by 

 a strait only about 20 miles wide. (For further remarks sec Camp- 

 bell, Emu. xviii., p. 257.) 



Cinclorhamphus cruralis. Black-breasted Song-Lark. — .\ single 

 male watched for several weeks at the West well. It had no mate, 

 and was taken as a type. A pair was evidently about to breed early 

 in July in a locality three miles to the north. Probably onlv casual 

 visitors. 



Ephthianura albifrons. \Miite-trontcd Bush-Chat. — This species 

 was seen around tlu- West well on my tirst visit to Dirk Hartog, and 

 again in the months of June and Jul}-, \<.)io. Out of about fifteen or 

 twenty birds, however, in the latter instance. I could see only one 

 adult pair. The other individuals were probably last vear's young, 

 or some ot tlieni mav li.i\e been iiatched \-erv earlv in the season. 

 Not ol.ser\.;(l on I'cron, but piob.ibh li\es iherr on tile samphire 

 Hals. 



Ephthianura tricolor. Tricoloured Busii-Chat. — Mr. Carter obser\ed 

 three on Dirk Hartog, where it is no doubt an occasional visitor. 



