^"'^ ^^^- ] Whitlock, On the East Murchison. 207 



placed in a variety of situations. When I passed through the spinifex on my 

 return in November not a Wood-Swallow was to be seen. 



White-vented Wood-Swallow {Artamus venustus).— 'Y\\\'s, was the 

 most generally distributed Wood-Swallow around Lake Way. Occasionally 

 I saw small parties, but more often I saw pairs, many of which are, I believe, 

 resident. This species is a late breeder, and I did not get any nests and 

 eggs until 1 went to Milly Pool, where 1 obtained several handsome clutches. 

 One nest was rather out of the common, being loosely constructed of light 

 featheiy seed-stems of a native grass and lined with horse-hair. So untidy 

 was this nest that 1 was on the point of passing it by as that of a Tceniopyoia. 

 To secure another nest 1 had to climb about 20 feet up a "cork tree'' 

 {{^asaiirina). 



Buff-bellied Shrike-Thrush {Collyriocincla rufiventris). — This 

 Shrike-Thrush was generally distributed throughout the district, but 

 was comparatively rare around the margins of Lake Violet. I did not 

 have much luck with its nest and eggs, finding but three in all, two of 

 which contained newl^^-hatched young. It was not till ist November 

 that I obtained a pair of eggs. I took these from the fork of 

 a casuarina when hunting for a Bower-Bird's nest some seven miles 

 from my camp. The nest was remarkably deep, being built on a 

 foundation of needles from the tree. The walls of the nest were 

 constructed exclusively of strips of soft bark. 



Magpie-Lark or Pugwall (Grallina picata). — A pair or two at Gum 

 Creek, and a few pairs around Milly Pool, where it was breeding in the 

 flooded gums. 



Varied-backed Magpie (Gymnorhina dorsalis). — Rare. I .shot a 

 female on the spinifex plain, and observed a pair or two around Milly 

 Pool. 



Pied Butcher-Bird {Cracticus picattts). — A few around Wiluna, and 

 again at Milly Pool. I saw two nests, only one of which was accessible, 

 and from which I took one incubated egg. 



White-winged Butcher-Bird {Cracticus leucopterus). — Sparingly 

 distributed throughout the district in suitable haunts. Around Milly 

 Pool it was most frequent, but when I arrived there the young were 

 already on the wing. 



Rufous-breasted Thickhead {Pachycephala rufiventris). — Generallj' 

 distributed throughout the district. I found three nests, containing 

 three, two, and one egg respectively. Males in nuptial plumage were 

 quite exceptional, and I had a difficulty in obtaining one. 



Chesnut-bellied Whiteface {Aphelocephala {Xerophila) castanei- 

 ventris). — Another Lake Austin friend, which I found fairly common 

 around Lake Way. It was perhaps most numerous in the neighbour- 

 hood of Wiluna and the mining belt to the south. I found a number 

 of nests, all of which were built in hollow trunks, at no great height 

 from the ground. There is some misconception as to where this species 

 makes its nest. Mr. Keartland refers to their bulky nests being seen 

 in the country between Mullewa and Lake Way (see Campbell's 

 " Nests and Eggs," species Xerophila leiicopsis). This Whiteface 

 does not build in bushes, or make a bulky nest, but occasionally it 

 builds inside the old nests of Babblers (Pomatostomus). 



Again, Mr. A. W. Milligan, in his account of a trip through the 

 Yandanooka district (see Emu, vol. iv., p. 151), writes of nests in 

 prickly hakea bushes. I have little doubt the latter nests were those 



