206 Whitlock, Ov the East Murchison. [^J 



Emu. 

 April 



and to aid in its concealment dried spinifex stems had been loosely piled on 

 the top. My seventh nest was a last year's one, and differed in one respect 

 from all the others. A year or two ago a large tract of the spinifex plain had 

 been swept by a tire. A growth of a species of soft grass had taken the place 

 of the spinifex. This grass grows in swollen tussocks, and is very dense. 

 Amongst a group of these tussocks, and at the foot of a dead bush, was an 

 Amytortiis nest. No spinifex was employed in the construction of this, the 

 last nest I found. (For a typical nest see illustration.) 



Before I left Bore Well 1 had the luck to catch a young Striated 

 Grass- Wren, getting my hands well pricked in the process, the points 

 of the spinifex breaking off in the wounds and producing much irrita- 

 tion. This young bird was much duller in colour than adults, snuff- 

 brown rather than ferruginous-brown. The striations on the throat and 

 breast were visible. The under parts were greyer, but palest on throat 

 and abdomen. Iris coffee-brown ; beak horn colour, with a pink tinge, 

 especially on the lower mandible ; legs, feet, and claws flesh-pink. This 

 nestling uttered the shriek of the parent birds when I chased it. The 

 latter both showed themselves, but kept at a respectful distance. Another 

 pair probably had a brood in the spinifex, as on my imitating the cry of a 

 bird in distress they actually followed me, the female showing herself so 

 freely that 1 could easily distinguish her from the male by her rufous flanks 

 and sides of breast. In a series of male skins not much difference in plumage 

 is apparent, but in what 1 take to be older birds the striations on the throat 

 and breast are more pronounced. The seven eggs 1 obtained do not vary 

 much in size or shape, but in several of them the markings have a tendency to 

 form a zone. 



White-browed Wood-Swallow {Ar/amus superciliosus). — This Wood- 

 Swallow is not very well known as a visitor to this State. In the early part 

 of August many Wood-Swallows were migrating to the west and north-west, 

 and a flock of over a thousand birds became weather-bound, heavy gales 

 with rain setting in from the south-west. These were mostly Artamus 

 perso?iatus, but amongst them I detected several darker individuals of a more 

 robust build. I managed to shoot one or two of either sex. They proved 

 to be of the present species. 



Grey-breasted Wood-Swallow {Artamus cinereus). — A single speci- 

 men obtained at Lake Violet. 



Masked Wood-Swallow [Ariamus persona/its). — Large numbers passed 

 during the latter half of July, and again during the earlier part of August. 

 On the spinifex plain at Bore Well during the latter period a large flock 

 became weather-bound. 1 was hunting for Amyior7iis nests, and these 

 Wood-Swallows proved a serious distraction. It was very fascinating to 

 watch such large numbers of birds feeding all round one. They were not 

 hawking for insects, but were extracting the nectar from the flowers of a very 

 curious plant, which was growing abundantly where the spinifex had quite 

 recently been swept clean by a bush-fire. 1 took a specimen of this plant to 

 Perth, and submitted it to Dr. Alexander Morrison, late Government Botanist 

 to this State. He tells me it is a very little known species, having quite 

 recently been figured and described. He names it Brachysona daviesioides. 

 The most curious habit of this plant is that it throws out its flowers at the 

 base of the stalk. The Wood-Swallows were crouching down quite flat in 

 extracting the nectar, and their foreheads and crowns were thickly coated 

 with the yellow pollen. All these flights of Wood-Swallows were accom- 

 panied by flocks of Epht]iia7mra tricolor^ and by small numbers of the Pied 

 Honey-eater {Entomophila leiicomelas). 



A number of the present species remained to breed in the scrub just on 

 the edge of the spinifex plain. 1 examined a dozen or two of their fragile, 

 ill-constructed nests. None contained more than two eggs. The nests were 



