14 MlLLIGAN, Notes on a Trip to tin Stirling Range. fisfjuh 



emerald orbits and their white cheeks appeared to me to at once 

 distinguish them from M. brevirostris. After our return to 

 Perth, a comparison with the skin of M. brevirostris disclosed 

 other structural differences, and I declared the species a new 

 one accordingly. 



Malurus pulcherrimus (Blue-breasted Wren). — On our home- 

 ward journey, between Toll's Pass and Yetermirrup, the 

 attention of Mr. Conigrave and myself was arrested by the 

 tuneful song of the new Calamanfrhus, the author of which we 

 located in a remarkable outcrop of rock some short distance from 

 the road. Whilst in pursuit of the bird we disturbed a colony 

 of Wrens, which we assumed to be Malurus elegans, for we could 

 only get occasional momentary glimpses of them as they threaded 

 their way through the denser patches of scrub. We endeavoured 

 by all means at our command to flush them, but unsuccessfully, 

 as they were so timid and secretive. After awaiting some time 

 I got a snap shot at a male bird as he showed himself for a moment, 

 but failed to kill. Finding a new lemon-scented boronia in the 

 rock clefts, I ceased pursuit for a few minutes, but Mr. Conigrave, 

 exhibiting greater persistence, tracked them from bush to bush 

 by their tell-tale voices, and eventually was rewarded with a male 

 bird, and shortly afterwards a female bird. Without examining 

 them critically he placed them in his bag, and joined me in my 

 botanical examination. When about to resume our journey I 

 asked to see and was shown the birds. One glance sufficed to 

 show that they were not familiar forms. We at once abandoned 

 our intention of immediately resuming our journey, and com- 

 menced to beat the scrubs for the remainder of the colony, but 

 notwithstanding that we could hear them occasionally in the 

 undergrowth we could not sight them. Our persistence was 

 fruitless, and we were reluctantly compelled to give up pursuit 

 and follow the team, which was now ahead of us some miles. 

 On reaching the camp at Yetermirrup we talked the matter over 

 at some length, and, having regard to the facts that very many 

 of the Maluri are local in habit, and that the outcrop was the 

 only one of the kind we had observed, we decided that the locality 

 should be searched again next morning — a decision which involved 

 a journey of 15 miles, in addition to the next day's stage of 12 

 miles in new country. To my secret satisfaction, Air. Conigrave 

 volunteered to return alone in the morning, and appreciating 

 that he was some 25 years younger, I readily, and perhaps 

 selfishly, acquiesced in his lone undertaking. Shortly after 

 daylight next morning he began his walk back, and we in due 

 time proceeded on the next stage. He had not long gone before 

 I regretted his undertaking, for, making a side exploration from 

 the track in some likely-looking country, my dog, who accom- 

 panied me, disturbed a number of Maluri, and the male bird 

 showing itself on the top of a dead bush, 1 immediately shot it, 

 and found it to be M . pulcherrimus. In the late afternoon Mi'. 

 Conigrave reached camp after a rough and arduous journey of 



