134 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



allusion to the appearance of the female. Still his few remarks 

 on its habits and mode of life ate interesting. 0( A. striatus he 

 obtained only one male specimen himself. Although he saw 

 others secured in New South Wales he again omits any mention 

 of the female. This is unfortunate, as will be seen later on. Of 

 A. macrourus he says : — " This is the only species of the genus 

 found in Western Australia, and it is evidently the western repre- 

 sentative of A. textilis of the eastern coast, to which it is nearly 

 allied, but it is easily distinguished by its more robust form and 

 greater length of tail." This last remark is somewhat peculiar, 

 as he gives the measurements in inches, as follows •.—A. striatus, 

 total length, 6%; bill, ^; wing, 2^; tail, 3^^ ; tarsi, i. 

 A. macrourus, total length, 5^ ; bill, ^ ; wing, 2% ; tail, 2^ ; 

 tarsi, 7/^. 0( A. textilis he gives no measurements. 



During the four months of 1894 spent in Central Australia with 

 the Horn Scientific Exploring Expedition I had the good fortune 

 to shoot specimens of three species — A. striatus, A. textilis, and 

 what Mr. North has since described as A. modesta — which at 

 the time were considered as only two. The male birds were 

 easily identified as A. textilis, but the females were lighter in 

 colour, and less striated on the breast and throat, besides having 

 a marked difference in the shape of the bill. Mr. C. E. Cowle 

 has since then kindly sent me other skins, which I have 

 forwarded on to Mr. North, and after careful examination he has 

 described this bird as a new species, under the name of A. modesta. 

 The mistake arose from the fact that the different sexes were 

 obtained in different localities. But when I crossed the Great 

 Desert of North-Western Australia with the Calvert Exploring 

 Expedition, in i8g6, I saw many birds in all stages of plumage of 

 both A. striatus and A. textilis. Nothing appears to be known 

 of Amytis goyderi beyond the fact tiiat a bird was obtained by 

 the Lake Eyre Expedition, and on its being forwarded to England 

 was thus named by Gould. It is said to be a near ally of 

 A. striatus. For information re Amytis housei and A. gigantura, 

 I am indebted to an old member of this Club, Mr. A. W. 

 Milligan, of Perth, Western Australia, who kindly furnished me 

 with the notes given under their headings. 



All the species I have met with were in sandy or rocky country, 

 in which their plumage harmonized with the ground or rocks of 

 ferruginous sandstone. The proximity of water seems to be a 

 matter of indifference. Where A. striatals was found breeding in 

 the Great Desert in numbers in September and October, 1896, we 

 travelled 230 miles from Brookman's Creek to the nearest well in 

 which we obtained water by sinking, and throughout the trip 

 noted an entire absence of water-loving birds. The Grass-Wrens 

 were seldom known to fly 20 yards at a time, and on alighting at 

 once secreted themselves under the nearest cover. 



