Vol. IV. 

 1904 



J MiLLIGAN, Notes OH a Trip to the Wongan Hills, W .A. 



York gum tree, the main branches of which overhung the road. 

 The nest was placed some 30 feet high above the road. One 

 of the attendant parent birds, on observing us, immediately 

 elongated itself and became rigid along the length of the limb^ 

 and so resembled the surroundings as almost to defy detection. 

 I have always been struck with the similarity of the habit of 

 the bird in so elongating and stiffening itself to that of some of 

 the iguanas, which perform the same acts when observed. Can 

 it be a device by each to escape detection inherited from a common 

 ancestor ? As regards the second nest, Mr. Conigrave climbed 

 up a neighbouring branch of the same tree, and on our passing 

 up his camera, he in that unique position took a photograph 

 of the nest and young on a level plane. Unfortunately, on 

 reaching Perth he found that the plate had been damaged in 

 transit. We could not help remarking the swift, straight, and 

 prolonged flight that the owner of each nest made when dis- 

 turbed. As these were flights made in the daytime it may be 

 fairly assumed that the strong light of day does not materially 

 affect their sight. 



Another interesting nest that we discovered was that of 

 Uroactus audax. It was situated in the fork of a salmon gum 

 tree at a height of about 50 feet from the ground. The materials 

 forming the nest structure would, we estimated, half-fill a dray. 

 It was composed outwardly of dry sticks. Underneath the nest 

 was a litter of the same material, which had either fallen in the 

 course of construction or with the winds, or perhaps from both 

 causes. In the litter we picked up the lower part of the leg of 

 a young kangaroo, newly killed, as also the skull of another 

 one. The other portions of the bodies had evidently provided 

 food supplies for the young, whom we could see as they craned 

 their necks and scrutinized us over the rim of the nest. Un- 

 fortunately, we had not any climbing apparatus with us, and 

 as the trunk of the tree was too thick and free of smaller limbs 

 and the bark too smooth, we had to abandon the desire we had 

 to make a closer inspection of the occupants and their hom.e, 

 and to get a photograph illustrative of the young Wedge-tailed 

 Eagle chez nous. One of the most interesting nests was probably 

 that of a new species recently described — Acanthiza pallida. 

 The nest was built in a small tree on the roadside opposite a brush- 

 fence enclosure which had been used to muster bush sheep. The 

 nest was fully 2 feet long and divided into four compartments 

 for the reception of eggs, each compartment surmounted with 

 a " look-out " or " cock's nest." Unfortunately the laying season 

 had passed, and the nest or nests was or were untenanted, and 

 it was therefore impossible to say whether or not a separate 

 pair of birds occupied each. Judging by the residues left in 

 the bottom of each nest, I am inclined to think that they were 

 separately tenanted, but I should not care to positively assert 

 that they were so. It is perhaps interesting to know that these 

 birds share with the African Weaver-Birds the sociable habit of 



