Vol. XX, J Ri>yal Australasian ()niitli<,/,i^is/s' riiimi. 183 



and spent hours Iryin,;; lo j^hm a \ir\v ot the male. I could see both 

 male and femah^ hoppinj; aboul in a huj^e Acacia bush a lew feel 

 away; b\it, though I took up a position at a distance, and used a 

 field-glass, neither would come out of cover. On another occasion 

 1 waited a long time near a nest containing young a day or two old, 

 but my patience gave out, aided by the immediate presence of eight 

 young camels, and T did not get a clear view of either parent. I found 

 several nests wiili lull clutches of eggs. The favourite haunt was a 

 tract ol scrub about 1 S inches high, interspersed with a few dead 

 bushes, around and through which various gra.sses were growing. 

 The prevailing liush bore a small, bright blue "forget-me-not-like" 

 flower, with short leaves of a vivid green. Compared with nests of 

 Malttri. those of this I'.mu-W'ren were poor aff^airs. They were 

 smaller, more globular, and only half-lined. It was quite easy to 

 see right through them. The eggs were larger than some of those 

 of the Pied Wren, but wore more profusely spotted — T might even 

 say blotched. 



Amytornis textilis carteri. Dirk Hartog Grass-Wren; and Amytornis 

 textilis. Grass- Wren (Peron Peninsula). — I am at present treating 

 the above as one and the same. I believe the type was obtained by 

 the Uranie expedition in 181 8 on the Peron Peninsula. 



It is hard to conceive that the Dirk Hartog birds shoiTld show an}' 

 but the slightest differences from the type obtained a few miles away, 

 the climatic conditions being practically similar and the isolation on 

 Peron Peninsula being only in a smaller degree less effective. It must 

 be remembered that only two specimens have, until my latest visit 

 to Peron, been recently obtained there. Mr. Carter obtained a male, 

 and I a female. The material for comparison is therefore of the 

 scantiest ; but that the Dirk Hartog birds, and also those on Peron, 

 should differ from specimens obtained by myself some twelve or more 

 years ago at Lake Austin, in a hot, dry climate, and at an elevation 

 of 1,200 feet, is not surprising. I regret that, owing to the ravages 

 of cats on Dirk Hartog, I did not see a single example during a 

 persistent search of three months' duration. I had my experiences 

 with the interior form at Lake Austin and Lake Way to guide me, so 

 I do not think I was personally at fault. On my first visit, however, 

 in October, 191 8, I frequently saw a pair haunting some extra large 

 Acacia bushes not half a mile away from the homestead. They were 

 excessively wary, and I failed to secure a specimen. 



Mr. G. C. Lloyd, the manager of Dirk Hartog sheep station, knows 

 the species well since it was brought under his notice bv Mr. Carter, 

 and he recently told me that for some time back he had not observed 

 an example. The native marsupial animals have nearly disappeared, 

 too, and the swarms of domestic mice ^Nlr. Carter mentions are now 

 reduced to insignificant numbers at the homestead and out-camps. 

 This is all due to cats. I do not think I ever went out without either 

 seeing one or finding recent traces of these pests. 



For an account of Mr. Carter's most interesting notes on the 

 discovery of the Grass-Wren (Amytornis textilis) on Peron I must refer 

 readers to Mr. A. J. Campbell's paper on " Additions to the H. L. 

 White Collection " {Emu, xviii., April, 1919). I should like to have 

 quoted Mr. Carter's experiences* with the Dirk Hartog form, but 

 space will not permit. 



* /^/i, October, 1917, pp. 564-611. 



