1920.] Westt'.rn Austrclian Birds. 687 



wires were coiistantlv seen on this trip, and as no voiinti' 

 birds were observed anywhere, it may be presumed tliat the 

 adults refrained from hreeding in such a dry season, which 

 abstinence is customar}-, according to my experience. When 

 at Maud's Landing on 21 June, 1916, a teamster brought in 

 many eggs which he tohl me he had obtained about fifty 

 miles eastw^ards, where Emus were tlien breeding freely. It 

 was a good season, with abundant rains. 



The south-western subsfjecies of Emu (^rofhschilJi) was not 

 uncommon about Lake Muir on my visits thei'e in 1916 and 

 1919. One adult fenuile shot there on 19 March, 1919, was 

 quite devoid of fat, which is a rare occurrence, excepting in 

 a drought. The general plumage of this subspecies is much 

 darker than that of those from the north-west area. Emus 

 are not liked in the south-west, owing to their eating the 

 large seeds of the poisonous " Xamia " Palm (Macrozamia), 

 and so spreading the plants by voiding undigested seeds. 



Leipoa ocellata ocellata. 



The Western Mallee Fowl still breeds in the south- 

 western corner, from south of the Vasse River, and round all 

 the south coast, and also in some of the districts east of the 

 Great Southern Railway ; but their breeding-places are being 

 steadily reduced by the burning of the coastal scrubs, and 

 the clearing and cropping of the eastern Ma-Iock and other 

 thick scrubby areas, for agricultural purposes. In Feb- 

 ruary 1919 I flushed an adult in some scrub within one 

 hundred yards of a selector's house where I was staying, 

 fifty miles east of Broome Hill ; and on 16 February, in the 

 same locality. Hushed two young birds, about the size of 

 small pullets, from low scrub, close to the edge of a road 

 alono- which I was drivinjr at the time. One of them 

 appeared to fly with difficulty. 



Mr. Higham and I were hoping to find some of these 

 birds when we camped near the mouth of the Warren 

 River in March 1919, but although we saw^ many of their 

 tracks under the dense " Stinkwood " thickets that they 

 frequent so much, we did not see one of the birds. The 



