^°'- '^- I Whitlock, On the East Mnrchison. 201 



the nest in the salt-bush, flushed a female J/. Icticopierus from the eggs. 

 This was disappointing, though no more than I expected. The Acatji/itsa 

 did not put in an appearance at all. I walked over to the spot I suspected, 

 and, after a few minutes' search, found a second nest, not in the salt-bush, 

 but cleverly interwoven and sheltered by the topmost spray of a clump of 

 samphire. This nest was more globular, too, and more loosely woven, and 

 in a circular fashion. It was the image of my Lake Austin nest, now on 

 exhibition in the Perth Museum. To my delight this nest contained three 

 eggs. The male and female were skulking near, but would not come up to 

 the nest. Carefully packing the eggs, I went home quite satisfied as to their 

 identity. They were the first authentic eggs ever taken of Acanthiza 

 tenidrosfris. They differed from typical eggs of Malnrus leucopterus, the 

 markings being more sparse and fainter. In size, too, they were slightly 

 smaller, but the structure of the nest was totally different, and agreed with 

 the nest I eventually found of the first pair except that the latter had a lining 

 of rabbit fur whilst the present nest had a lining of white or bufifish 

 \egetable down of the plant known as Dicrastyles fiilva. 



Red-throat {Pyrr/iolcpi/ius {Sericor/its) brunneay. — Generally distributed 

 throughout the district. It breeds early. The young were on the wing 

 second week in August. I obtained two typical clutches of eggs. These 

 nests remained empty so long that I quite gave them up, thinking they had 

 been robbed by the blacks. One was in a salt-bush, the other in tea-tree 

 scrub. This species is a splendid mimic, and reproduces the songs of all the 

 surrounding birds. In passing, it may be worth recording that on one 

 occasion 1 took eggs from a nest built in the burrow of a lizard and quite 

 under ground. A blackfellow in front of me walked right over the nest, 

 flushing the female in so doing. 



B..\NDKD Wren {Malurus splcndens).''' — Rare and very local. Though I 

 heard of blue birds at Lake Way, which came round one's camp, I hardly 

 expected them to be of this species. It was one of the surprises of my trip. 

 1 only met with two parties near Wiluna, and another near Milly Pool. 



White-win(;ed Wren {Malurus Icucopterus).* — The commonest Wren 

 of the district. I found seven or eight nests. Several contained four eggs, 

 and in three instances the nest contained an egg of the Narrow-billed Bronze- 

 Cuckoo. Several clutches were very boldly marked, the blotches inclining 

 to hazel-brown rather than rufous-brown. 



Purple-backed Wren {Malurus assimilis). — Sparingly distributed 

 throughout the district. I found one nest, but it must have been disturbed, 

 for when I visited it later it was quite abandoned. 



Rufous-crowned Emu-Wren {Stii)itiirus ruficcps). — Rare, and confined 

 to the big spinifex plain west of Bore Well. In its habits this rare Emu- 

 Wren differs but little from the commoner species in the south-west. It is 

 a terrible skulker, and a very feeble flier, but hops along the sand between 

 the tufts of spinifex at a remarkable speed. Though it is such a skulker it is 

 not really a shy bird. The difficulty is to find it. But when once found it is 

 easy, by imitating its feeble notes, or the cry of a wounded bird, to make it 

 show itself. By the latter method I brought a male right up to my feet. 

 Despite much labour, I failed to get eggs ; but I found a very small nest of the 

 previous year — smaller than that of M. /eucopterus—and also differently 

 woven. This was placed in stunted spinifex, and was woven of soft dry 

 grasses, bleached nearly to whiteness. The lining appeared to have been 

 white or buff-coloured vegetable down. On returning home I tramped 

 through all this spinifex, a distance of I2 miles, in the forlorn hope of finding 

 a late nest. As luck would have it I walked right into the midst of a family 

 party. I secured the male and two of the young. The former had only 

 two tail feathers. The young are much less rufous than the adult, being of 

 a dull snuff-colour, with the same markings as the female. 



* See remarks on " Western Australian Birds," by A. J. Campbell, part 3, p. 165. 



