Iq8 Whitlock, On the East Murchison. [is^Aprii 



inconspicuous species, and may easily be mistaken for the more common 

 A. uropygialis^ with which it often consorts. It was its harsher call notes 

 that attracted my attention to the first pair I procured. I was not long in 

 picking it out again at Wiluna, though I had not heard the notes for fully 

 six years. It has a low-pitched, twittering song, which is not unpleasing, 

 but can only be heard when the bird is at close quarters. In addition, there 

 are certain loud and clear joyous notes, very similar to those of A. uropy^alis. 

 The harsh " Thrip-thrip " seems to be a call note or alarm note, and is 

 uttered by the male, and responded to by the female, when building 

 operations are in progress. According to my observations, the female does 

 all the building, the male hanging around the nesting site and keeping an 

 eye on things in general. The favourite situation for the nest is a medium- 

 sized or even small narrow-leaved mulga bush, growing in company with 

 two or three similar bushes, but often quite isolated. Where the mulga 

 is large and growing in thickets it is useless to look for the nest, 

 although the bird itself may be found feeding there. The nest is a pretty 

 little structure, and has been described by Mr. A. W. MiUigan. Spiders' 

 webs and cocoons enter largely into its construction. Some nests are much 

 more profusely lined than others. In all I have found perhaps thirty nests. 

 By far the greater number were at a height of from 4 to 6 feet from the 

 ground. One I found in a pine tree was at a height of fully 1 5 feet, and 

 another was only a few inches from the ground in a small broad-leaved 

 salt-bush. These were the only two nests I observed that were not built in 

 the customary narrow-leaved mulga. I found both these latter nests on the 

 Yalgoo goldfield. A full clutch is invariably three. The eggs are 

 exceptionally fragile, and as a rule very well marked, chiefly at the larger 

 end, with rust-red spots. Two handsome clutches had the markings all 

 massed together at the apex, and another egg in a third clutch was quite 

 white. Curiously enough, I shot a specimen of this Acatitliiza nearly white, 

 but it showed sufficient of the snuff-coloured upper tail coverts to make 

 identity pretty certain. Compared with A. tiropygialis, and other species 

 found in the south-west of this State, I consider A. robustirostris a silent 

 bird. It is especially quiet and wary when the young are hatched. I have 

 often stood by a nest containing young, and waited in vain for the parents 

 to show themselves. An easy way to find the nest is to stand within sight 

 of the male, when he is fussing about, uttering the harsh call note, and 

 watch for the female. Presently she may be observed flying from bush to 

 bush, until she disappears into the topmost twigs of some solitary 

 mulga. Ten chances to one there you will find her nest, which, from the 

 ingenious way the narrow leaves of the mulga are woven into the sides, is 

 by no means a conspicuous object. On the Yalgoo goldfield I obtained an 

 egg of the Bronze-Cuckoo {Chalcococcyx hasalis) in a nest of this Acanthiza. 

 The species is double-brooded, the breeding season commencing early in 

 July and lasting till the beginning of October. If this bird lived in agricul- 

 tural districts it would be a useful little friend to the farmer and orchardist, 

 as it devours numbers of grubs and caterpillars, as I have myself witnessed. 

 Whitlock Tit {Acaiithiza tv/ni/ocki. North). — This was one of two new 

 species I procured on the East Murchison, and at the request of Mr. H. L. 

 White Mr. A. J. North paid me the compliment of naming it after me. It 

 somewhat resembles in appearance Acantliiza apicaiis of our south-western 

 coastal districts. A full description will be found in The Victorian Naturalist, 



vol. xxvi.. No. 5, pp. 55, 56. . ,., , , , J • ,. 



The first pair 1 met with were m a thicket of tea-tree scrub bordermg the 

 big lagoon in Lake Violet. They were closely searching the sprays of foliage 

 for insect life. They were very silent, and though I stood watching them 

 for some time not a sound did they utter. I was puzzled. The only way 

 out of the difficulty was to shoot them. This I did, securing both without 

 serious damage. I could see I had got an Acanthiza which somewhat 

 resembled A. apicaiis^ but both the markings on the throat and breast and 



