Vol. XIII. 



1914 



] Whitlock, spotless Crake and Western Ground-Parrot. 20^ 



black-boy {Xanthorrhcea) flat. On either side of the bit of dry 

 ground on which my tent was pitched were tracts of sloppy 

 ground, with dwarf tea-tree, Banksia, Xanthorrhcea, Leptospermum, 

 and long herbage growing profusely all over them. At dusk I 

 heard the notes of a pair of Spotless Crakes which came out to 

 feed as the light faded. I spent the whole of one morning paddling 

 about in water which varied in depth from two to eighteen inches 

 in a vain quest of their breeding place. I saw nothing of the 

 birds nor of their nest ; but on nth November, whilst searching 

 for the nest of another species of bird, on the opposite side of my 

 camping-ground, I came across four eggs of the Crake, laid in an 

 apology for a nest, concealed in a tuft of long grasses and beautiful 

 white-flowering plants. The eggs were placed with their thin 

 ends pointing to the centre, after the manner of a clutch of 

 Plover's eggs. The nest itself was a slight cavity, formed by the 

 half-exposed roots of the surrounding grasses, with a mere 

 pinch of dead grass as a lining. I photographed the eggs in sitti. 

 The surrounding ground was totally devoid of water ; the nearest 

 pool was a hundred yards away, and rapidly drying up. 



A little later in the year I encountered a family (probably six 

 birds) in the Megaluriis swamp before mentioned. This party 

 was a noisy one, the individuals continually calling one to the 

 other. The most frequent note resembled the syllable " Quip," 

 sharply uttered in a whistHng tone, and one readily imitated. 

 Another very curious sound was frequently uttered, too. I can 

 only compare it to the rattle made by a sewing machine running 

 at a high speed. This can be imitated by pressing the in-doubled 

 tongue against the palate and blowing hard through the nearly 

 closed lips. Another sound resembled a very liquid and bubbling 

 noise ; but this was only occasionally uttered. During these 

 observations I had members of the party all around me, and as 

 I tried with more or less success to imitate their notes, one or 

 other would take a peep at me, or run from one clump of reeds 

 to another. They are dainty and pleasing little birds in their 

 movements, and with each step the short little tail is jerked 

 downwards. On the water drying up on this large swamp the 

 Crakes, Bald-Coots, and other aquatic birds repair to a neigh- 

 bouring bulrush swamp, which I regard as permanent water, 

 and when waiting for a shot at same I often hear their notes, and 

 at times get a glimpse of them on the margins of vegetation beds. 



Eggs of the Spotless Crake have been described from specimens 

 taken in Tasmania, or from islands adjacent to AustraHa ; but a 

 photograph of the nest in situ, discovered on the mainland, will 

 not be without interest. (See Plate XX.) 



Mr. A. J. North has separated the Western Ground-Parrot from 

 the Eastern form, under the name Pezoponis flaviventris. Inform- 

 ation as to the character of the nest and eggs of the Western 

 form became, therefore, desirable. I found it a very difficult 

 bird to study, and the task of finding its nest and eggs 

 trying in the extreme to one's patience. It is absolutely 



