^"'aiJ^' ] Whitlock, On the East Murchison. 183 



follows : — " Guttated Bovver-Bird, 50 miles N.W, of Lake Way, 

 — J.T.T." This record was copied from a mounted specimen in 

 the Perth Museum. I wrote to my friend Mr. J. T. Tunney 

 with reference to this bird, and he very kindly informed me of 

 the exact locality where he obtained it, adding that it was the 

 only one he saw during his exploration of the East Murchison. 

 I mention this matter specially as it led to an interesting result. 



I left home i8th June, 1909, intending to reach Lake Way, or 

 Wiluna, as the township is called, on ist July. I arrived at 

 Perth on the evening of the 19th, just escaping serious delay 

 owing to washaways on the Great Southern Railway. I spent 

 a couple of days in Perth, completing my outfit, arriving at 

 Nannine, the head of the Northern Railway, on 23rd. En route 

 I passed through my old hunting-grounds around Lake Austin, 

 and was delighted to note the large body of water the lake 

 contained, and also to observe the promising appearance of the 

 local vegetation. Underneath the telegraph wires, at a point by 

 the lake, I observed the wreck of several fine specimens of the 

 Banded Stilt {Chladorhynchus australis), a species I did not 

 observe on my previous visit. 



I found I had a day to spare at Nannine, and naturally 

 wandered off to see what bird-life I could in the vicinity of the 

 township. Less than a mile to the north is a sinuous but 

 narrow depression, which then contained quite a respectable 

 body of water, but intensely saline in quality. Amongst the 

 samphires I found quite a number of the beautiful Orange- 

 fronted Chat {EphtJiianura aurifrons), and also small parties of 

 waders, which looked like the Little Stint {Livwnites ruficollis), 

 in company with the Red-capped Dottrel {yEgialitis nifi- 

 capilla). The Chestnut-eared Finch {Tccniopygia castanotis) was 

 abundant, and had evidently been breeding for .some time, as I 

 saw young birds on the wing and found nests in various stages 

 of completion. I was destined to meet with quite an extra- 

 ordinary number of these nests later on. 



I left Nannine the following mid-day, per express waggon. 

 Having too much baggage to go by the ordinary mail coach, I 

 preferred this method of travel, as there is nothing like keeping 

 one's eye on such things as guns, camera, and the various 

 impedimenta necessary to a trip, when travelling over these 

 tracks — for of roads in the true sense there are none. We were 

 favoured with a spell of fine but bitterly cold v/eather. A keen 

 east wind met us in the face, and, despite the brilliant sunshine 

 and plenty of clothing, I was unable to keep warm, and was 

 only too glad to jump down and walk when the state of the 

 track precluded our team from advancing at a faster pace than a 

 walk. In making a push for a particular well that evening our 

 leading waggon got hopelessly bogged, and, despite the efforts 

 of nine powerful horses and much digging out of ruts, there we 

 had to camp for the night. This, however, was the only mishap 



