lo\. III."] 



1903 J 



CARTER, Some South-Western Notes. 



were returning towards sundown, when a small bird which I 

 took to be one of the Maluri darted out of some scrub and flew 

 rapidly and strongly for a distance of two hundred yards. 

 Flushing it again, a snap shot dropped it, and it proved to be 

 Stipiturus malachurus (Emu-Wren). I was somewhat surprised 

 to see this bird fly so readily and swiftly, as my previous experience 

 of it was creeping tamely about in the scrub at a few feet distance. 



Mr. R. Gale, of Fairlawn, told me the following curious story 

 of a tame Emu : — The bird was allowed its liberty on the Margaret 

 River estate, and apparently formed an attachment for a horse 

 there, for when my informant drove this horse from Margaret 

 River to his house near Busselton, a distance of 40 miles, the 

 Emu arrived early the following day, in spite of having had to 

 traverse cross roads and negotiate several fences of barbed wire 

 and post and rails. Did the bird follow the horse by scent ? 



The Por phyroce phahts spurius (Red-capped Parrakeet) was 

 fairly common in the forest country, but Calyptorhynchus naso 

 (Red-tailed Cockatoo), which in former years was common, was 

 not noted. 



Glycyphila ocularis (Brown Honey-eater) was fairly common 

 about the river, though Mr. A. W. Milligan considers this bird 

 rare south of Perth. 



M alums splenalens (Banded Wren) was not uncommon, but I 

 failed to see M. elegans (Red-winged Wren). 8th to 25th Nov- 

 ember I spent at that delightful locality Ellensbrook, on the coast, 

 south of Cape Naturaliste, where Mr. Milligan discovered his new 

 Bristle-Bird (Sphenura 1 1 tor alts), and from personal observation 

 I can endorse his remarks as to the difficulty of obtaining specimens 

 of this bird and the Black-throated Coachwhip-Bird, or of even 

 sighting them. When returning homewards one evening, 

 carrying my gun carelessly under my arm, feeling tired after a 

 long day's tramp, a bird, carrying its tail perpendicularly, ran 

 with immense speed across a patch of sand drift into a clump of 

 bush. A snap shot had no result. On examination of its foot- 

 prints in the fine sand, found them to be fairly evenly from 17 to 

 1 8 inches apart — a long stride for a bird of its size. 



Subsequent examination of the locality proved by the numerous 

 tracks that the birds frequented this patch of sand drift, running 

 from one patch of rushes or bush to another. They apparently 

 came out very early in the morning, as I waited hours on subse- 

 quent days at various times (except sunrise) without seeing the 

 birds. The song of the Black-throated Coachwhip-Bird was 

 frequently heard in one patch of dense coastal scrub, and once, 

 whilst seated under the growth with a keen companion, the 

 bird perched within about 5 feet of his head. 



The Lipoa's egg-mound which was photographed by Mr. 

 Conigrave was visited on 25th November, when the top had 

 been freshly opened out. I was told of another nest of this 

 species having been robbed of fifteen eggs in the vicinity of Cape 

 Naturaliste about 12th December. 



