STRIATED FIELD- WREN. 
“ Procured by Mr. Robert Brown at Van Diemen’s Land in 1804 ” is the 
sole data provided by Vigors and Hors field when they described Anthus 
fuliginosus as a new species from the collection of the Linnean Society and as 
an excuse for the generic location they explained : “ The birds of the group 
just described which are in our collection are in general in bad condition, 
and we have been obliged to confine ourselves to a few details only of their 
characters.” Nothing was known of its economy at that time. Swainson 
and Gould simultaneously proposed new generic names for the species, and 
as the name selected by the former was preoccupied, Gould’s generic name 
has undisputed usage. 
Gould’s observations read : “ This species is very generally disposed 
over Tasmania, where it frequents open forests and sandy land covered with 
scrub and dwarf shrub-like trees. It carries its tail erect, like the Malusi , 
but differs from the members of that group in moving that organ in a lateral 
direction whenever it perches, and at the termination of a succession of hops 
on the ground, over which it passes with great celerity, depending at all times 
for safety more on this power than on that of flight. It eludes pursuit by 
running through a bush to the opposite side, and hopping off to another 
beyond, which it does quite unseen unless closely watched. It builds a dome- 
shaped nest, which is placed on the ground, and frequently so hidden by the 
surrounding grass as to be with great difficulty discovered ; a small narrow 
avenue of a yard in length, like the run of a mouse, being frequently resorted 
to by the bird, expressly, as one would suppose, to avoid detection. The 
nest is formed of dried grasses and leaves, and is w'armly lined with feathers. 
The breeding-season commences in September and lasts until January. This 
species emits so strong an odour that pointers and other game dogs stand to it 
as they do to a quail, and that too at a considerable distance. It possesses \a 
clear and pretty song, which it frequently pours forth while sitting on a bare 
twig, or the summit of a low bush or shrub among the thickets, to a part of 
which it dives on the least alarm. The sexes are precisely similar in colour, 
and nearly so in size.” 
Mr. Edwin Ashby has written me: “Very common on the swampy flats at 
Gladstone, South Tasmania, in September 1909. First thing in the morning if 
the sun were shining the cocks would sit on the top of some low bush a couple of 
feet above the ground and pour forth a sweet piccolo-like song. Near Sandforcl 
also, in South Tasmania, I noticed many of these birds in the tall Samphir in the 
saltish swamps, and on the 6th October, 1916, I found nests ready for eggs, but 
none had eggs laid. They are very cautious birds, moving so rapidly from bush 
to bush that it is very difficult to shoot them. The Victorian form was very 
common in the large swamps near Cranbourne, Victoria, in the winter of 1886.” 
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