330 THE BIEDS OF AUSTRALIA 



B. — Head rufous. 

 The Kufous Bristle-bird, S. Iroadbenti. — Interior of South Australia. 



The Lesser Rufous Bristle-bird, S. litoralis. — West Australia (Ellensbrook). 

 Closely allied to .S. iroadhenti, but much smaller, also has a brighter 

 chestnut head, and lighter under surface; and has no yellow gape 

 or triangular loral spot as in S. hroadienti; upper surface dark slaty- 

 brown, dappled with grey margins to feathers; wings and tail 

 chestnut-brown; shaft of tail feathers black. Length 9 inches, wing 

 3.4, tail 4.5, tarsus 1.2, culmen .6. (A. W. Milligan). 



The Bristle-birds have a shy disposition, and live in reed- 

 beds and thickets, and in consequence are seldom seen. They 

 resemble the Blue Wrens in the habit of carrying the tail erect, 

 and are birds of short flight, running along the ground and 

 threading their way skilfully through the thickets. Mr. North 

 says of the Sydney bird that "it may be observed during spring, 

 perched on the top of a low bush, pouring forth its rich and 

 varied notes, resembling those of the acclimatized Skylark, and 

 which it probably mimics, as they are plentiful in the locality. ' ' 

 The nest is globular, with a side opening, and is formed of dry 

 wiry grasses, without ariy lining. It is placed in a stunted bush 

 or clump of coarse grass, and contains two or three eggs, of a 

 dull white ground-colour thickly freckled and dotted with brown 

 markings, measuring 1 inch x .75 in S. brachyptera. Confined 

 to Australia. 



Genus Amytornis (Amytis). Grass-Wrens. 



With ten tail feathers, which are soft, with elastic but not 

 spiny shafts. Rictal bristles five, weak and not recurved. 



Plain-coloured birds of similar habits to the Blue Wrens, 

 but larger, and of some shade of brown or russet above and pale 

 below. They are birds of the interior, and are found in the 

 chaparrals or amongst the spinifex, in small troops of four to 

 seven. They dart from bush to bush, or from tussock to tussock, 

 running rapidly on the ground with the tail erect. The nests are 

 partially dome-shaped, built near or on the ground, and the eggs. 

 are white, spotted with red. Confined to Australia, and to its 

 interior. Mr. Keartland has given an excellent account of these 

 birds in the "Victorian Naturalist." 



