RUFOUS SCRUB BIRD. 
Eggs. “ Clutch, two ; short or rounded oval in form ; texture of shell fine ; surface 
glossy ; colour, warm or pinkish-white, with a patch of confluent markings on 
the apex of pinkish-red or reddish-brown and purplish-brown, with spots of the 
same colours scattered sparingly over the rest of the surafce. Dimension in 
inches: (1) .92X.72; (2) .87X.7.” (Campbell.) 
Breeding-season. October. 
The account of the discoverer of this rare bird deserves quotation. 
Dr. Ramsay wrote : “ During a visit to Tarrango Creek, on the North 
Richmond River, I obtained more than a dozen, but to my surprise and 
disappointment did not find a female among them. Only on one occasion did I 
meet with more than a single bird in the same place. They are always among 
the logs and fallen trees overgrown with weeds, vines, nettles, etc., and are the 
most tiresome birds to procure imaginable. As to their ventriloquial powers 
they must he heard to be believed. They will mock a Spine Tail’s ( Orthonyx ) chirp 
so well that more than once I have turned round in expectation of seeing that 
species on the log behind me ; and upon one occasion the note of Pachycephala 
gutturalis sounded so close above me that I went my way, believing I had mistaken 
a Thickhead for an Atrichia , and immediately after heard the latter uttering its 
usual chirping note, which closely resembles that of Climacteris leucophcea 
(White-throated Tree Creeper) and may be imitated by whistling the words 
‘ Chip ! chip ! chip ! ’ several times in succession ; it also indulges in a kind of 
scolding hiss, like that of the Gisticola. It is impossible to say what its own note 
really is. I have frequently stood on a log waiting for it to show itself from 
among the tangled mass of vines and weeds at my feet, when, all of a sudden, it 
would begin to squeak and imitate first one bird and then another, now throwing 
its voice over my head, then on one side, and then apparently from the log on 
which I was standing. This it will continue to do for hours together, and you 
may remain all day without catching sight of it.” 
In 1898 S. W. Jackson recorded the finding of the nest and eggs of this 
species, but failed to secure the female and consequently there was a little doubt 
about the matter, so later he was requisitioned by H. L. White to endeavour to 
clear up the identity and the following short note is taken out of his later search 
for this rarity. 
In the Emu, Vol. X., p. 327 et seq., 1911, Sidney Jackson gave a long account 
entitled “The Haunt of the Rufous Scrub Bird (Atrichornis rufescens Ramsay), ” 
which is too long to reproduce in full, but from which I extract a condensed 
account. “ I pitched my camp in the forest, near the Little Murray River, 
in the elevated Dorrigo scrubs, northern New South Wales. I have always 
noticed that this noisy little bird inhabits the most impenetrable parts of 
the scrub, and where the undergrowth is thick and the ground is strewn 
VOL. VIII. 
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