1917-] Dirk Hartog Island and Peron Peninsula. 603 



fence down to the well had trampled and destroyed all grass 

 and other herbage. This (or another) pair of these Wrens 

 was seen at the same place on four different days, and some 

 time was spent in watching their moveraentSj as it was the 

 only locality where any were seen keeping out in the open. 

 They usually ran, with tails erect, at extraordinary speed, 

 but occasionally they hopped. I had my lunch beneath one 

 of the large wattles at this spot one day, and in the course 

 of it a pair of Grass-Wrens that had been running and 

 hopping for some time, a short distance away, disappeared. 

 Having finished my lunch and risen to my feet to move on 

 again, one of the Wrens darted out from the bush beneath 

 which ray meal was eaten, and had evidently been there for 

 some time behind me. 



October 31. When walking up the slope of a rather bare 

 stony hill with a few scattered bushes growing upon it, 

 I saw a pair of Grass-Wrens running very quickly down it. 

 I " chirped^' with ray lips, and at once one of them turned 

 and faced me with outspread wings and tail, and feathers all 

 puffed out. I shot it, but failed to get the other, as it dis- 

 appeared in some neighbouring scrub. The one obtained 

 proved to be a female with sligiitly enlarged ovaries. It 

 was the only bird from Dirk Hartog Island that showed any 

 signs of breeding, and it was the only occasion on which 

 any of these birds were seen on stony ground. 



November 4. While riding along a cart-track I saw a Grass- 

 Wren run beneath a large wattle on the edge of the road, so 

 I tied up horse and went after the bird, which, after running 

 from one bush to another, flew well a distance of about 

 twenty-five yards, into the bottom of a big wattle-bush. 

 The flight was straight, not undulating, and its tail was 

 carried slightly drooping. " Chirping " with my lips as the 

 bush was approached, the bird appeared, and climbing slowly 

 through the twigs to the height of about five feet above the 

 ground, it turned and faced me for a few seconds, and then 

 vanished in the shelter of the bush. A little further along this 

 road on the same day, a Grass- Wren was seen about four feet 

 from the ground in a FM^osia-bush, which, as usual, had only 



