^°'-'^'' Howe, In the Mallee. 22y 



igio 



In the Mallee. 

 By F. E. Howe, F.Z.S., Melbourne. 



{Read before the Bird Observers' Club, 25//; Noveinber, IQOQ-) 

 During September, 1908, with Mr. J. A. Ross, I spent a few 

 weeks in the Mallee scrubs of north-western Victoria, observing 

 the rarer forms of bird-life. Our list of birds noted totalled 1 12 

 species, many of which were seen at Stawell.* On that trip we 

 were a few weeks too early for nesting notes, and we decided 

 to leave Melbourne this year a fortnight later, but were again 

 disappointed. Owing to a very early spring in this locality, all 

 the species we desired to observe had already hatched out their 

 young. We left Melbourne on 30th September, detraining at 

 Tailem Bend, in South Australia, where we arrived about 6 a.m. 

 next day. After breakfast we walked out to some mallee (we 

 had over five hours to wait in the township), and identified 

 about 40 species of birds, notably — Strepcra melanoptera, 

 AcantJiiza pyrrJiopygia,A. nana. Aster cinereus, Petrceca goodenovi, 

 P. bicolor, and Ptilotis ornatus ; the last three varieties were 

 nesting. Circus gouldi was noticed hawking over the grassy 

 flats, and Botaiiriis paxiloptilus was booming down towards 

 Murray Bridge. 



Pinnaroo, three miles from the Victorian border, lies about 86 

 miles due east from Tailem Bend, and after a tedious journey of 

 6)^ hours we reached there about 6.30 p.m. Mr. Frank Tully, 

 of the Kow Plains homestead, was in waiting, and escorted us 

 to the Land of Promise Hotel, where Mr. Ross had taken the 

 precaution to secure beds a week before. Kow Plains lies about 

 35 miles due east from Pinnaroo, and the road is not one of the 

 best on which to travel, being very sandy for a mile or two ; in 

 other parts it was usually littered with limestone. As the springs 

 were hard down, our drive was not too pleasant. Of course, we 

 were busy all the way out, and visited spots with which we were 

 most familiar. At Hawk Plain we camped for lunch, and while 

 the " billy " was boiling Mr. Ross and I skirted the mallee 

 that fringed the plain, each taking a different route. Many 

 birds were noted and nests found. Barnardms barnardi had 

 young in a hollow tree spout, and a nest of Strepera mdanoptera 

 contained three eggs. Hieracidea berigora was flushed from its 

 nest containing two fresh eggs, and a nest of Corcorax nielano- 

 rJiampJuis and one o{ Acantliizn uropygialis were found in the same 

 tree ; the Acanthiza's nest was in a small hollow spout. Mr. 

 Ross disturbed an Owlet- Nightjar {yEgotheles) from a nest in a 

 hollow where three young ones nestled, and noticed a Podargus 

 (sp. }) sitting on a pair of eggs. As this bird was considered to 

 be a new variety, the eggs were taken and the bird secured. 



* See Emu, vol. viii., part 3. 



