Vol. VIII. 



1909 



Whitlock, Birds on the Pilbarra Goldfield. i8q 



pair, and this entails much patience, as they are apt to sit for a long time 

 quite motionless on some dead limb. 



Red-backed Kingfisher {Halcyon pyrrhopygius). — Not uncommon 

 throughout the district. I obtained eggs on the upper Coongan. On the 

 de Grey the blacks had dug out a young brood, which they were taking home 

 to be cooked and eaten. 



The tunnel to the nests I dug out was not more than a foot long, but the 

 nesting chamber was very roomy. The tunnel sloped upwards, unlike those 

 of the Bee-eater and Red-lored Pardalote. 



Sacred Kingfisher {Halcyon sanctus). — Not uncommon on the de Grey, 

 but only a pair or two observed on the Coongan. Amongst the mangroves 

 at Condon was a Kingfisher with a white collar, but on the wing it looked a 

 more brilliant-coloured bird than H. sanctus. I am strongly inclined to 

 think it was H. tnacleayi. Unfortunately, 1 failed to get a specimen. 



At Port Hedland, perched on the railings of the jetty, was a very dusky- 

 looking Kingfisher with no white collar. Its flight, too, appeared to differ 

 from that of the two foregoing species. I think this was H. sordidiis. 



Rufous Bush-Lark {Mirafra {Woodwardi) secu?tda).-—\ first en- 

 countered this species at Marble Bar, where I shot three at the beginning 

 of June in the present year (1908). The locality was a huge flat bounded 

 by gently sloping hills, almost devoid of scrub, but thickly covered with 

 tufts of " buck " spinifex. On dissection these proved to be males, and 

 from the fact that I saw no more of the species in the same locality, I 

 think they were on migration. The breeding organs were very small. 



It was not until the following September that I saw anything more of the 

 species near Marble Bar. 1 was walking up a gentle slope, some 2 miles or 

 so from the spot where I obtained my first specimen, when I observed a bird 

 fly past me with something in its beak. I stood still and watched, but it was 

 not until I had shifted my position several times that 1 got a clue to the 

 exact locality of the nest, which 1 only found by a close search. I could not 

 follow with the eye the movements of the parent bird in and out of the 

 clumps of spinifex, and, as I subsequently found, she alighted each time at 

 some little distance from the nest. The latter was placed in the lee of a 

 small tuft of spinifex, the stems of which actually formed part of the back of 

 the nest. The latter was simply a hole in the ground, probably scratched 

 out by the parent bird, and neatly though sparsely lined with fine grasses, 

 without hair or wool, a low wall of coarser grasses, neatly woven, forming the 

 front of the nest. It contained two nearly full-fledged young birds. I 

 am of opinion that this nest was somewhat flattened out owing to this latter 

 fact. Whilst I was examining the nest the parent birds simply remained 

 passive lookers-on, and betrayed no especial anxiety, nor showed any of 

 those artifices to attract me from the nest, as so many other ground-building 

 birds will do. 



Just about a month later than this 1 was on the de Grey River, about 35 

 miles from its mouth, and I found myself in the headquarters of the species. 

 The de Grey here flows in a rather deep bed, with vast level plains on 

 either side, almost treeless, and with only small patches of scrub. Here Mirafra 

 secunda was to be found in scattered pairs, or even in little colonies of 

 three or four pairs, throughout the plains as far as I was able to explore 

 them. But they were most abundant in the neighbourhood of a large clay-pan, 

 which in average seasons always contains water, situate some 10 or 12 miles 

 from the main river. Herbage round this clay-pan was quite luxuriant, and 

 the closely-growing tufts of grass reached almost to my knees. 



In the early morning, whilst the atmosphere was fresh and comparatively 

 cool, the song of the male resounded from all parts of the neighbourhood. 

 I was much reminded of the rich English river valleys on a warm spring 

 morning, when the air is filled with the song of the Skylark, for Mirafra is 

 a Lark in its habits and song, though in some other respects it shows an 



