loO Royal Australasian Oriiithologists' Union. [,^t ' 



Jan. 



Acanthiza whitlocki. Whitlock Tit-Warbler.— Seen on I'crou 

 only, where specimens were obtained in November, igi8, and several 

 more were seen amongst big acacia bushes in September and October 

 of the present season. 



Acanthiza tenuirostris .^ morgan! > Small-billed Tit -Warbler. - 

 Several specimens obtained in November. 191S, near Denham. This 

 record is a farthest west for the species. No Acanthiza appears to 

 inhabit Dirk Hartog. Considering the amount of cover, this is 

 remarkable. 



Sericornis maculata hartogi (Carter . Spotted Scrub-Wren. — ^'ery 

 common on Dirk Hartog, haunting the larger bushes, especially where 

 there are dead ones by preference. It often happened, when I found 

 a Malurus or other small nest, that the owners were invisible. When- 

 ever I attempted to call them up, a pair, or more often three in- 

 dividuals, of this Scrub-Wren invariably put in an appearance. It 

 is common on Peron Peninsula too, but hardly so numerous as on 

 Dirk Hartog. I spent a lot of time watching this species in the 

 hopes of finding a nest, but was completely baffled. I saw one pair 

 only, accompanied by a brood of three young ones ; I am therefore 

 inclined to think it breeds at the end of summer — March or April. 

 On the Peron Peninsula an old nest was found which, I think, was 

 that of a Sericornis. It was of the semi-domed type, and was resting 

 very low down in a large dead bush. (For this supposed new sub- 

 species see Campbell's critical remarks. Emu, xviii., p. 259.) 



Malurus cyanotus. White-winged Wren-Warbler. — W^ithout being 

 considered common, this species may be always found in suitable 

 haunts on the Peron Peninsula. It is absent from Dirk Hartog, 

 where its place is taken by the Black-and- White Wren-Warbler {M . 

 leucopterus \ 



.In ?klr. Carter's account of his visit to Shark Bay, in The Ibis (1917 j, 

 this species is figured in colour (plate x. , for a special purpose. Gould 

 described, from a stuffed specimen, a blue white-winged Wren having 

 a tract of white feathers extending right across the back. The plate 

 accompanying yiv. Carter's article shows a bird answering to this 

 description. Personally, I have never met with a White-winged Wren 

 showing this characteristic so perfectly ; but I could easily make up 

 a skin to do so. All the White- winged Wrens I have examined show 

 a parting, like that of the human hair, down the centre of the white 

 feathers. This widens out towards the rump. Careful observations 

 have convinced me that, if the wings were cut off at their insertion, 

 all the white feathers would come away Avith them, none being 

 actually attached to the back. 



Malurus leucopterus. Pied Wren. — Black-and-White W^ren- 

 Warbler. — We owe the discovery of this remarkable little Wren to 

 Mons. Quoy, one of the surgeons of the Uranie, in the vear 1820. W'c 

 owe its re-discovery to Mr. Thos. Carter nearly a hundred years later 

 ■ — that is, as far as Dirk Hartog Island is concerned. In the mean- 

 time, another closely related Pied Wren had been found on Barrow 

 Island, some 400 miles further north. This has been described by 

 Mr. A. J. Campbell and named M alums eclouardi. It has fallen to 

 my lot to take the type nests and eggs of both varieties. I have 

 already related my experiences with regard to .the Barrow Islarid 

 form (Emu, xviii., April, 1919), and now record my observations on 

 the Pied Wren of Dirk Hartog. 



