^'^'^9^9^''] Howe, Among the Birds of North-Western Victoria. 135 



On the 22nd we left Kow Plains en route to Carina, and before 

 leaving the larger mallee noticed nests of the Whiteface 

 {Xerophila leiicopsis) and Brown Tree-creeper {Climacteris 

 scandens), both containing young, and nests of the Striped Brown 

 Hawk {Hieracidca berigora) and Mallee-Parrakeet (Barnardius 

 barnardi), containing four eggs and five eggs respectively. A 

 nest of the White-winged Chough {Corcorax melanorhainphus) 

 made of the excrement of cattle was placed in a mallee. 



At Pinnaroo Well (10 miles from Kow Plains) we camped for 

 lunch and close handy found a nest of Zonifer tricolor con- 

 taining four eggs. In every nest of this species noticed, as usual, 

 the points of the eggs were inturned. We found two nests 

 of Podargus strigoides {}), and very substantial structures they 

 were, being composed of green twigs of the turpentine-bush, and 

 were fully 5 or 6 inches in depth externally, but the ^g^ cavity 

 was only about i^ inches. The eggs were very much smaller 

 than usual in both cases, and measured i inch 8 lines in length by 

 only I 7=4 inches in breadth. The bird also seems to differ (we 

 were within a few feet of it), appearing much lighter in the 

 plumage in general, and it was unfortunate for us that we were 

 unable to obtain a specimen. 



As we crossed a plain the warbling of the Red throat 

 {Sericornis bninned) was heard, and the bird was flushed from 

 some fallen pines and dead bushes, and the nest, just started, 

 was found. They prefer to build in the grasses that shoot 

 through the dead turpentine-bush, and appear to be very local, 

 as we found two or three old nests quite adjacent to the new 

 one. We spent an hour watching a pair of Scrub-Robins, and 

 found the hole scooped out preparatory to nest-making. 



I forgot to mention that on the 17th Mr. M'Lennan flushed a 

 Striped Brown Hawk from its nest. We examined it on the 

 1 8th, when it contained one ^g^ ; the second egg was deposited 

 on or about the 23rd, or five days later (the weather in the 

 interim was extremely cold) ; the eggs were quite fresh, with 

 the female sitting and evidently laying. On the 19th it was 

 looked at and contained only one Q%g. 



Whilst strolling through the scrubs on the 24th a female 

 Chestnut-backed Ground-Bird {Cinclosoma castanonotuni) was 

 flushed from a nest prettily situated in the heart of a mallee- 

 bush ; it contained one &gg, which she subsequently deserted. 

 The call-note of this species is a long-drawn and feeble whistle, 

 and is exactly like that of C. punctatinn. 



On the 24th we left camp and walked into Pinnaroo, and 

 collected skins of Ptilotis cratitia, P. ornata, Glycyphila albifrons, 

 Pardalotus xanthopygius, and Chalcococcyx basalts. 



It may be stated the weather was exceedingly unfavourable 

 for work, and the strong northerly winds played havoc with 

 the Honey- eaters' nests, many of Ptilotis ornata and one of 



