Official Organ of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists' Union. 



" Bir^s of a fcattjer.' 



Vol. XII.] 1ST JULY, 191 2. [Part 1. 



Field OrnithoIog;y in South Australia. 



By (Capt.) S. a. White, R.A.O.U., Adelaide. 



On the Eyre Peninsula. 



Last season, accompanied by my wife, and at considerable expense 

 and inconvenience, I undertook many ornithological collecting 

 trips, by the special permission of the Government, in the State of 

 South Australia. 



Possessing the time and the inclination, I did it primarily to 

 assist Mr. Gregory M. Mathews in the completion of his work on 

 "The Birds of Australia," to whom I have presented the whole 

 of the collections made, and also because I desired to see the State 

 thoroughly explored ornithologically. Since the days of Gould 

 and my father, the late Samuel White, who assisted him, 

 practically nothing has been done, save the expeditions of the 

 R.A.O.U. to Kangaroo Island and Eyre Peninsula respectively. 



So far the districts visited, by Mrs. White and myself have been 

 the Eyre Peninsula, Port Augusta, the mallee of the Lower 

 Murray, the Lakes, Cape Jervis, and Kangaroo Island. The coming 

 season we hope to take other districts. 



The following notes were made on a trip to Eyre Peninsula. 

 We left Adelaide on 22nd August, 1911, and our starting-point 

 was Port Lincoln, where we saw Tricho^lossiis 7iovcB-hollandicB in 

 numbers feeding on the mallee blossom. The birds made a great 

 noise, screeching and squabbling over the flowers. Glossopsittaciis 

 porphyvioccphalits were also there, but not in such numbers, and, 

 unlike the last-named species, they went in pairs. 



We observed two small parties of Sericornis maculata (?) in the 

 thick scrub. These birds, when not alarmed, hop over the dry 

 leaves and stones in a sprightly manner, uttering a low chirping 

 call at intervals. But when alarmed they dart off to cover like 

 a flash, and keep perfectly quiet. It is some time before they 

 regain sufficient confidence to emerge again. Three apparent 

 varieties of these birds came under our notice during this trip, 

 some specimens being extremely light on the forehead, with lores 

 almost white. Meliornis novce-hollandice were in great numbers, 

 uttering their sharp, squeaking notes. These birds nest very 

 early here, for there were many fully-fledged young about. We 

 saw one pair of Painted Quail {Tnrnix varia) in the thick scrub, 



