244 Whitlock, Notes on Megalnvus stviatus (Milligan). [,^f'\'^r\] 



Notes on Megalurus striatus (IVIilligan). 



By F. Lawson Whitlock, Young's Siding, D.R., W.A. 

 There is a swamp which originally covered an area of nearly 

 40 acres, but is now only about half that size, the remainder being 

 cleared and cultivated. The soil is chiefly true peat, which, when 

 dried, burns readily. Some years ago, during a dry summer, 

 the peat did take lire, and numerous holes, from 18 inches to 2 feet 

 in depth, were burnt. From about the beginning of June till the 

 end of November all the lowest parts are under water. A heavy 

 growth of cane-grass still covers the unreclaimed portions of the 

 swamp — sometimes in clumps of greater or lesser size, but often 

 in one almost impenetrable reed-bed. This Western Grass-Bird 

 {Megalurus striatus) is confined strictly to the cane-grass, and 

 never resorts to the tea-tree or other scrub which grows on the 

 margins or on the drier portions of the swamp. 



The spring of 191 1 was noteworthy for its light rainfall, and the 

 shallow depth of water remaining on the swamp at the beginning 

 of November gave me an opportunity of studying Megalurus 

 striatus unaccompanied by the discomfort of wading nearly waist- 

 deep through mud and water, as in previous years. On entering 

 the cane-grass I could hear the plaintive but sweet notes of the 

 Grass-Birds calling all around me. Never had I known them so 

 numerous before. The usual call is " Tee, ti, tee, tee," uttered 

 in rather a high-pitched, piping manner, or more slowly in a lower 

 and more musical tone. The only other notes heard from these 

 little birds are alarm notes, which are sharp and rather harsh, 

 resembling the syllables " Chuck " or "Tcheck." One hears these 

 when near a nest, or when young are concealed in the thick clumps 

 of cane-grass. As I was anxious to see a nest in situ, I com- 

 menced a systematic search, selecting the larger clumps of cane- 

 grass as the most probable nesting-sites. There I made a mis- 

 take. Certainly, I did find nests in the thicker cover, but later 

 experience taught me that clumps of only 2 or 3 feet in diameter, 

 growing in the more open portions of the reed-bed, were much 

 more favoured for nesting purposes. Altogether, during the 

 months of November and December, I must have discovered 

 nearly two dozen nests, some with eggs, some with young, and 

 again others from which the young had flown. As I write this 

 (7th January, 191 2) I have three nests under observation — one 

 with one egg, a second with three fresh eggs, and a third with 

 newly-hatched young. This last nest is in a very small clump 

 of reeds growing on the margin of a large hole burnt in the peat. 

 All the nests I found were very similar both in situation and 

 in construction. The parent birds commence to build as low down 

 in the reeds as the growth of the latter allows — none would exceed 

 18 inches from water-level, which would give an average of about 

 2 feet 6 inches from the solid peat. 



I collected typical nests and eggs for Mr. H. L. White, Bell- 

 trees. New South Wales, which he describes on p. 249. 



