j85 Whitlock, Birds on the Pilbarra Goldfield. [ist^Aprii 



This was the common Pardalote of the district. On the Coongan, wherever 

 there were gums, there its monotonous notes were sure to be heaid. On 

 the de Grey it was less common, and I heard little of it between the latter 

 river and the coast. On the upper Coongan the main river was more 

 favoured than the tributaries, but the nests were always in the banks of side 

 creeks, or even in little runlets of no more than i foot or i8 inches deep. 

 Where the soil was loamy there these runlets had been scoured out by the 

 heavy rain, and I could usually locate the tunnel without much difficulty. 

 A little experience, too, soon enabled me to distinguish an old tunnel from a 

 new one, and also to ascertain by means of a slender stick the probability 

 of the nest containing eggs or being unfinished. The tunnels varied from 

 20 inches to 2 feet in depth, and a large chamber was excavated at the end 

 to contain the nest. The latter was very substantial, the foundation of strips 

 of cajaput bark and the cup neatly lined with fine grasses. 



The eggs were usually three in number, but not infrequently only two. 

 As incubation is nearing the end the female sits closely, and I have several 

 times started to dig out the nest before she flew out of the tunnel. The 

 eggs are pure white, large for so small a bird, and without much gloss. As 

 a rule they are rather broad ovals. 



Swallow {Himndo neoxciia). — By no means common, and I saw no 

 nests. 



Black-and-White Swallow {Chcramccca Iciicosternum). — Rather rare. 

 A few on the de Grey, where it probably nests in the deep loamy banks 

 of the river. 



Tree-Martin {Petrochclidon nigricans). — Local, but not uncommon, 

 and breeding in hollow limbs of the eucalypts throughout the district. 



Fairy Martin {P. ar/W).— Fairly common, and breeding in colonies 

 under overhanging shelves of rocks, or in cave-like fissures of the ironstone 

 hills. More common on the Coongan than on the de Grey. 



Pipit {Anthus australis). — Breeds throughout the district, but most 

 common on the coastal plains at Condon. 



White-rumped Wood-Swallow {Artanms lcucogaster.)~'Brt&^mg on 

 the lower de Grey, and more commonly in the mangroves at Condon. On 

 the de Grey I had a nest under observation near one of my camping places. 

 It was in a cavity of a gum-tree at a height of about 25 feet, and contained 

 young birds. At Condon I found half a dozen or more nests in the man- 

 groves, most of which contained young a day or two old. I got, however, 

 two nests with eggs, and an addled egg in a third nest. The usual situation 

 for the nest was in the topmost fork of the highest mangrove in the 

 immediate neighbourhood. They were easily located, as the male was 

 generally perched near at hand, and on my approach he gave vent to a harsh 

 alarm note, to which the female usually responded and slipped off her nest. 

 The nests as a rule had a more substantial foundation than those of other 

 Wood-Swallows with which I am acquainted. 



White-vented Wood-Swallow {A. vcnustus.) — The common Wood- 

 Swallow inland. On the upper Coongan } found several nests with full 

 clutches of the handsome eggs. With one exception all were built in canjie 

 bushes at a height of not more than 4 feet. One deserted nest contained 

 the egg of CuciUus pallidiis. There were signs around the nest of a squabble, 

 in which the structure had suffered — hence, probably, its desertion. All the 

 nests I found were constructed of curly rootlets or grasses. 



Little Wood-Swallow {Artanms minor).— I first encountered this 

 rather rare Wood-Swallow at Gorge Creek, where it haunted the rocky 

 hillsides. I afterwards secured three specimens on the upper Coongan, at 

 a still more rocky locality. I refrained from shooting any more, in the 



