GROUND WREN. 
similar country to Malurus pulcherrimus. It is interesting to note that wherever 
I found the present species I found M. pulcherrimus ; but, on the other hand, 
the haunts of the latter were more varied than those of the former, which 
seemed restricted to low-growing scrub on stony hillsides. This bird is an 
early breeder. Fully fledged young (they call to one another with a plaintive 
cry) were on the move early in October. Possibly the species is double-brooded. 
In our State it has a wide range, for I met with it in the Wongan Hills, 400 miles 
to the north, and again some 300 miles to the east, in the Lake Dundas country.” 
The next year, however, Whitlock wrote : “In my previous paper I referred 
to this species as Hylacola pyrrhopygia. On referring a skin, however, to 
experts, I find that I was wrong, the bird being really Hylacola cauta. I 
determined to have a good hunt for the nest. I was not long in locating two 
pairs of birds, though the species is distinctly local, and rare, in the Stirling 
Ranges. I fully expected to find this bird an early breeder, and I was not 
mistaken. I was much hindered by the rough winds prevailing during the 
greater part of August and September in my searches and observations on 
the nesting and general habits of the more secretive birds. Especially was 
this the case with the present species. The easiest way to discover the presence 
of a pair is to listen for the song of the male, which, to my ears, resembles 
somewhat that of Acanthiza apicalis, and again that of Galamanthus montanellus. 
Hylacola cauta, however, does not appear to sing in the very early morning, 
which is a pity, for the winds at that early hour are usually light ; and as the 
bird has not at all a powerful voice, and is by no means a constant singer, one 
does not hear it to advantage in half a gale of wind. It was some days before 
I found the first pair, which haunted rather open and low scrub, with a few 
patches of marlock and stunted jarrah trees. On the ground itself were small 
patches of what looked like a dwarf banksia, and it was amongst this latter 
growth that I caught sight of a beautiful male Hylacola. It was only by 
keeping motionless that I had any chance of watching him. On my making 
the least movement he hopped or flew at once into a clump of marlock, and 
disappeared. Once or twice I saw him catch a caterpillar, and hop into the 
scrub with it — I suppose to share the capture with his mate, whom I never once 
saw. Despite the most persistent and systematic search I failed to find the 
nest of this pair. I flushed a bird from a nest built in a little hollow excavated 
in the ground under the lee of a clump of dwarf banksia. I hid myself and 
waited patiently until the bird returned, when I satisfactorily identified her as 
Hylacola cauta — a similar bird in all respects to the specimen procured the 
previous year. The nest was globular, and much like that of a Galamanthus. . . 
The eggs appear to have an affinity to those of & 'ericornis and also to those of 
Galamanthus. The nest, too, belongs to the same class as those of the two 
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