^°9io'^' 1 Whitlock, On the East Murchison. 2qc 



the outermost fork of some horizontal branch of a flooded gum. I was not 

 to be tempted. It was a great risk, even armed with a lo-foot scoop, so 

 treacherous are these trees. 



White-shouldered Caterpillar-eater {Lalage fn'color).— Another 

 migratory species, which I found moderately common around Bore Well in 

 September. I took a typical clutch of eggs on the 13th of that month. It 

 was also nesting sparingly near Milly Pool. At this period the surrounding 

 country was a mass of blue and yellow, owing to the innumerable flowers of 

 Brufionm aus/rah's and Podolepis aristata. 



Black-vented Ground-Bird {Cinclosoma tnarginatuin). — 1 was well 

 acquainted with this species, having obtained half a dozen specimens in the 

 neighbourhood of Lake Austin some six years previously. A pair of these 

 have been mounted, and for several years have been on exhibition in the 

 Perth Museum. Unfortunately, I left Lake Austin for the neighbourhood of 

 Yalgoo, a locality much nearer the coast, before the breeding season had 

 really commenced. 



On arriving at Wiluna, I soon found my birds in the ferruguious country 

 in and around the auriferous belt, and, not being a shy bird, I have more 

 than once seen individuals within a quarter of a mile of Wiluna post-office. 

 To find the nest and eggs of this species was one of the objects of my 

 journey. But it was not immediately around Wiluna that I was successful. 

 The reason of this was not far to seek : I was in another locality at the best 

 time of the breeding season. However, there were a few pairs to be found 

 in the low ranges bordering the spinifex plain near Bore Well. Having 

 previously shot specimens to be certain the local birds were not referable to 

 C. djinamoinciiin, I contented myself with watching the pair nearest to my 

 camp. Soon after sunrise the male perches himself on some dead branch 

 or other point of vantage, and utters his rather plaintive and monotonous 

 call. This may be represented by the vowels / and e. The / is uttered 

 short, and is rather rapidly repeated, the final c being long-drawn and 



half a note higher in tone. It may be perhaps expressed as follows : 



" I-T-i-i-i-e." This call is repeated at short intervals, and two or three 

 males will often reply to one another. Provided the bird remains at the 

 same place, I never found any difficulty in locating the sound. It varies a 

 little in its apparent distance through the bird turning its head about. At 

 times the call is uttered from the ground, and the male bird frequently takes 

 a run between each call. It is not so easy to locate the sound under these 

 conditions. The method 1 adopted was to take a compass bearing on the 

 spot from which the sound appeared to travel, and then to lay a straio-ht 

 stick pointing in the right direction. I repeated this for several mornings 

 and, estimating the distance, I followed my line and almost walked right up 

 to the nest. The female sat close, but flew right away when I flushed her. 

 The nest was on an ironstone flat, in fairly open country, but close at hand 

 was a very shallow watercourse, with a line of large mulga and other bushes 

 growing along its banks. In the shade of these bushes herbaceous plants 

 wei-e plentiful, and the nest itself was sheltered by a very small grey-lea\^ed 

 salt-bush of not more than a foot in height, and barely large enough to shade 

 the nest from the morning sun. The nest was a moderately deep 

 depression in the ground, from its neatness and even shape probably 

 scratched out by the female bird. It was lined with strips of soft bark and 

 a few acacia leaves, or leaves of the gidgi tree. The eggs were two in 

 number, and of a very pale buft' in ground colour ; the markings were small 

 but numerous, and in the form of dots of irregular shape, distributed all over 

 the shells, but more numerous at the larger end. In colour they were of 

 various shades of brown, with a few underlying spots of neutral tint. The 

 eggs were a fairly even pair, both in size, markings, and shape, and 

 were slightly attenuated ovals. The skins of the birds I had shot previous 

 to finding this nest had been placed in the hands of Mr. A. J. North 



