^"'/'^il^' ] Whitlock, Notes on Korth-Western Birds. 167 



the favourite situation is in some small salt-bush or in the branches 

 of the woody samphires. The breeding season varies according 

 to locality. The earliest nest I have found was on 3rd August ; 

 others, again, were not completed before October. The nest is 

 of the usual Malurus type, the eggs varying in number from two 

 to four. In one instance of four there was a fifth egg — the produce 

 of a Bronze-Cuckoo {Chalcococcyx basalts). The latter species is 

 very partial to nests of this Wren. Recently I observed a nest 

 perched on the top of a clump of spinifex {Triodia) standing in 

 a clear, open space. On my near approach a male bird flew off. 

 It had either been feeding or was brooding a nearly full-grown 

 Bronze-Cuckoo. This Wren ran (not hopped) like a small blue- 

 and-white mouse, crouching low, and trying to lure me away 

 from the nest. 



In the spinifex country one often finds the nest just perched 

 on the top of the big clumps, and with the flower-stems inter- 

 woven with the walls of the nest. But a still more favoured 

 situation is in the slender branches of some small bush growing 

 through the spinifex, the bottom of the Wren's nest just reaching 

 the top of the clump. 



At nesting time the male is generally near at hand, usually 

 with only the female in his company, but not uncommonly two 

 or three brown birds may be present. The female is a 'close 

 sitter, and comes within a few feet of the observer when near the 

 nest. At all times the adult male is very wary and difficult of 

 a near approach. In old males the bill, once it attains its full 

 coloration, is always black. Males frequently breed in the brown 

 plumage. Full nuptial plumage, as a rule, is not attained until 

 the third year. 



With regard to a supposed blue White-backed Wren {Malurus 

 leuconotits), there is much doubt v/hether it may have been a sport 

 or the white back has been produced by the contraction of the 

 skin between the shoulders when the specimen was made up. I 

 have searched in many localities for this supposed white-backed 

 species without success. 



[The White-backed Wren {M. leitconotiis) was always considered 

 a doubtful species ; that is why it was omitted by the compilers 

 from the Union's " Check-list." 



Mr. Tom Carter, M.B.O.U., in a most attractive article in The 

 Ibis, October, 19 17, " On the Birds of Dirk Hartog Island and 

 Peron Peninsula," and dealing with the subject of the White- 

 winged and the White-backed Wrens, states : — " Some years ago I 

 noticed that the blue feathers in the interscapular region in these 

 birds are merely long pendent feathers growing on the base of the 

 back of the neck, and if these feathers are raised by a pencil white 

 feathers will be observed growing beneath them right across the 

 back. The pendent blue feathers overlap them in triangular 

 form, and hang down over the mid-lower back. Many specimens 

 obtained in various parts of mid-west Australia have been 

 examined in the flesh immediately after shooting, and all had 



