WHITE-BROWED BABBLER. 
birds, and the birds in the extreme south-west corner, as on the Blackwood 
and Warren Rivers, differ from the Broome Hill ones. The breeding-season 
at Broome Hill extends from August to the end of December, as nests contain- 
ing fresh eggs were frequently found in and between these months. Three 
eggs is the usual clutch. The bulky nests are usually placed from twenty 
to thirty feet from the ground in the leafy tops of Jam and She-Oak trees. 
Brightly coloured parrots’ feathers are commonly used in nest linings, and 
sheep’s wool. These birds pull to pieces nests of other species and destroy 
or eat the eggs. I have watched them destroy a Wattle-Bird’s nest and eggs. 
The Babblers do not appear to go right to the coast in the south-west.” 
He later wrote in the Ibis : “ The Carnarvon Babbler is a good subspecies, 
being much smaller than the south-western form, M. s. ashbyi. These birds 
were, as usual, plentiful in the scrub around Carnarvon in 1911, 1913 and 
1916. Fledged young birds were noted there on 19th September, 1911, and 
three eggs were found in a nest on 23rd September, 1913. As compared with 
a series of eggs of Morganornis s. ashbyi from Broome Hill, the Carnarvon 
eggs are much shorter, having both ends very round and blunt, and are *84 of 
an inch in length, those from Broome Hill averaging ‘96. The Carnarvon 
eggs are heavily blotched all over with purplish-brown, and the black hair- 
streaks, which are usually numerous on eggs of M. s. ashbyi, only appear on 
two of the Carnarvon eggs, and are limited to one long streak on the large 
end of each.” 
Of M. s. ashbyi he noted : “ Western White-browed Babblers were 
commonly seen about Broome Hill and the inland areas of the south-west, 
which are not so heavily timbered as the coastal parts. I had never seen 
any of these birds between the Vasse and Warren Rivers until 31st March, 
1919, wdien I came upon a small party near Warren House. A specimen 
obtained seemed to be a typical M. s. ashbyi .” A 
Captain S. A. White wrote regarding the Gawler Ranges, South Australia : 
“Was a common bird all through this country, and it is wonderful the amount 
of time they spend in building nests which they never lay in, and these 
abandoned nests are so well constructed that they last a number of seasons 
before they fall to pieces, so that great numbers are found in all the trees and 
shrubs, especially near dry watercourses. Eggs were found in some nests ; 
on more than one occasion birds were flushed from the nest, and on investigation 
it was found that there was a single heavily incubated egg. Three or four 
eggs seem to be the average clutch in this district.” 
Mr. E. J. Christian has sent me a long note : “ Considering the great 
number of species which we have in this continent it is surprising to find that 
so many of them are insectivorous and useful. This species, I think, may easily 
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