128 WHITLOCK, Xotcs on Birds of Shark Bay. ["^isfoa" 



away from the open scrub country. In the early morning at 

 Fisher their sweet notes could be heard from all directions, and 

 the birds themselves would come close to the house. They lived 

 on the ground, and ran from bush to bush with tail well cocked. 



Brown Song-larks {Cinclorhamphus cruralis) were very 

 numerous on the edge of the plain, in the open and scattered 

 scrub country. They had [)aired, were in full song, and were 

 probably breeding. They must have come south much earlier 

 this year. 



The Speckled \\'arl)ler (Chtlw)iicola sa</itfaia) was noted on 

 the open scrub-country at the edge of the plain. Two nests were 

 found, each containing dark chocolate eggs. The nests were 

 built of dry grass, placed at the base of a bush on the ground. 



Turquoise Wren-warbler (Maltirits callainus). — These most 

 beautiful wrens were quite numerous round the Soak, keeping 

 strictly to the sandhills, and keeping principally to the Casuar- 

 inas. They were very tame, and came to within a few feet of 

 me as I sat (|uietly under a bush to observe them. Twice the 

 hen birds of the Purple-backed Wren Warbler mixed with them, 

 but as soon as the male Purple-backed tried to join them, he 

 was promptly driven ofif by the female callainus. 



Purple-backed Wren- Warblers (Maluriis assimUis) were not 

 plentiful, and were noted only roimd the Soak. 



Whiteface {Aphelocephala leucopsis). — These cheery little 

 birds were numerous out on the plain, and I think were nesting. 



Further Notes on the Birds of 

 Shark Bay, W.A. 



F. LAWSOX WHITLOCK, R.A.O.U., Tudor, via Albanv, 

 W.A. 



Mr. Carter's comments-' on my recent paper on Shark Bay 

 birds appear to call for some further information on my part. 

 In the first place, let me state that none of my references to Mr. 

 Carter's notes in The Ibis were made in a critical spirit. Being 

 a resident in Western Australia, no one reads his notes with 

 greater interest and pleasure than I do. 



With regard to the rainfall on Dirk Hartog in the year 1920, 

 prior to my landing in June there had been fully nIx inches. 

 Young of the local Field- Wren (Calanianthus) and Pipit (An- 

 thus) were then strong on the wing. Compared with Scrub- 

 Wrens (Scricornis^, my experience points to the fact that the 

 young of Calanianthus keep with their parents for a much longer 

 period than do the young of the former. This may account for 

 my not .seeing family parties of Sericornis, if my surmise was 

 correct that the species bred at the end of summer. Having 

 already made a collection of the birds found on the island, I 



* " Emu " Vol. XXI., p. 56. et seq. 



