-76 HowB AND Tregullas, Rarer Birds of the Mallee. [isf'o'ct 



Rain fell steadily all night, and was still falling while we break- 

 fasted on i8th September. We had intended to shift camp in 

 a few days' time, but the bullocks went off in the night, and the 

 owner had to go after them. They had travelled nearly to 

 Carina, and we had to camp where we were for some days. The 

 bush was saturated. One of us rambled in the scrub close to 

 camp, and was fortunate enough to find a nest of the Red-rumped 

 Tit-Warbler, containing three eggs, and a nest of the Yellow- 

 rumped Pardalote, drilled into a small sand-ridge. About 10.30 

 a.m. the weather cleared. Mr. Tregellas decided to stay and 

 skin birds. Two of us set off south-east of the camp, and from 

 a nest of the Red-rumped Tit- Warbler, found on 15th September, 

 took a perfect clutch of three fresh eggs. After watching a pair 

 of Chestnut-backed Ground-Birds, we discovered a mound of the 

 Mallee-Fowl, Leipoa ocellata {L. 0. rosince), already opened up. 

 On the outer rim of the mound was a fresh egg, broken, and 

 bearing four distinct claw-marks, as though it had been gripped 

 by a Raven. Mr. Scarce went back for Mr. Tregellas and the 

 camera, and two photographs were taken. The camera and 

 tripod were left, and we journeyed on. Soon rain began to fall, 

 and the showers continued all day, about 250 points being regis- 

 tered at the camp. The scrub became saturated, and the birds 

 silent. Two mounds of the Mallee-Fowl, on which the birds were 

 working, were found, and we saw and heard many Scrub-Robins, 

 Ground- Wrens, Pardalotes, and Whistlers. We were wet through 

 long before camp was reached. 



All night rain fell, and on 19th September it continued, with 

 gales at intervals. All the crab-holes around the camp were full, 

 and a frog was croaking. A pair of Spur-winged Plovers {Lohi- 

 vanelhis lobatus) alighted at the bore. We did necessary work in 

 camp, and after dinner, when the weather had cleared, went for 

 a long walk to the south. Our first find was a mound of the 

 Mallee-Fowl in fuh working order, and, close by, a pair of Spotted 

 Nightjars was flushed from the foot of a mallee bush on a hme- 

 stone ridge. As we descended this ridge a bird rose quickly from 

 beneath a small mallee, among porcupine grass, and a nest of 

 the Scrub-Robin, containing a fresh egg, was found. This nest 

 was evidently one built last year. Similar instances of this were 

 noticed several times on the trip. Crossing a flat, we entered 

 some thick tea-tree country, and almost immediately found nests, 

 containing eggs, of both the White-throated and Red-throated 

 Whistlers. The nest of a pair of Yellow-rumped Pardalotes was 

 discovered by flushing a bird from its burrow, drilled into the 

 sand, and two eggs were taken from it. When crossing a sand- 

 ridge covered with porcupine grass and small mallee, we flushed 

 a Brush Bronze-winged Pigeon, Phaps elegans {Cosmopelia elegans 

 neglecta), which feigned injury. Two chicks, about two weeks old, 

 were found squatted on the ground between clumps of porcupine. 

 Another pair of Spotted Nightjars was flushed, and then, in quick 

 succession, nests of the Yellow-rumped Pardalote, containing 



