THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
of Wiluna post-office. To find the nest and eggs of this species was one 
of the objects of my journey. But it was not immediately around Wiluna 
that I was successful. The reason of this was not far to seek ; I was in 
another locality at the best time of the breeding-season. However, there 
were a few pairs to be found in the low ranges bordering the spinifex 
plain near Bore Well. Having previously shot specimens, to be certain the 
local birds were not referable to C. cinnamomeum, I contented myself with 
watching the pair nearest to my camp. Soon after sunrise the male perches 
himself on some dead branch, or other point oi vantage, and utters his 
rather plaintive and monotonous call. This may be represented by the 
vowels i and e. The i is uttered short, and is rather rapidly repeated, the 
final e being long-drawn and half a note higher in tone. It may be perhaps 
expressed as follows : 4 I-i-i-I-i-e.’ This call is repeated at short intervals, 
and two or three males will often reply to one another. Provided the bird 
remains at the same place, I never found any difficultv in locating the sound. 
It varies a little in its apparent distance through the bird turning its head 
about. At times the call is uttered from the ground, and the male bird 
frequently takes a run between each call. It is not so easy to locate the 
sound under these conditions. The method I adopted was to take a 
compass bearing on the spot from which the sound appeared to travel, 
and then to lay a straight stick, pointing in the right direction. I repeated 
this for several mornings, and, estimating the distance, I followed my line, 
and almost walked right up to the nest. The female sat close, but flew 
right away when I flushed her. The nest was on an ironstone flat, in 
fairly open country, but close at hand was a very shallow watercourse, 
with a fine of large mulga and other bushes growing along its banks. In 
the shade of these bushes herbaceous plants were plentiful, and the nest 
itself was sheltered by a very small grey-leaved salt bush of not more 
than a foot in height, and barely large enough to shade the nest from the 
morning sun. The nest was a moderately deep depression in the ground, 
from its neatness and even shape probably scratched out by the female 
bird. It was fined with strips of soft bark and a few acacia leaves, or 
leaves of the gidgi-tree. The eggs were two in number, and of a very 
pale buff in ground-colour ; the markings were small, but numerous, and 
in the form of dots of irregular shape, distributed all over the shells, 
but more numerous at the larger end. In colour they were of various 
shades of brown, with a few underlying spots of neutral tint. The eggs 
were a fairly even pair, both in size, markings, and shape, and were slightly 
attenuated ovals. ... I do not consider Cinclosoma marginatum a shy 
bird. As before mentioned, it still frequents country where active mining 
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