STRIATED FIELD-WREN. 
was almost level with the ground surface, the nest itself being built in a slight 
hollow, as of a horse’s footmark. The top of the nest was rounded, and made 
of short pieces of dry grass, so that it exactly resembled one of the nests of a 
species of small ant that abounds on the sand plains. Probably this resem- 
blance was intentionally made by the birds for the protection of the nest ? 
The nest was globular in shape, about four inches in diameter, and its aperture 
was one and a~half inches in length and one inch high facing the north. The 
nesting material was coarse dry grass, mixed with a few dead leaves and heads 
of wild flowers and stalks, all loosely put together. It was lined 'with many 
feathers, among which were many red, blue and green ones of Platycercus 
semitorquatus and icterotis. There were three eggs, which is the usual clutch, 
resembling those of Cal. fuliginosus. The female bird was shot for identifica- 
tion. The main breeding month appears to be August and extending to 
September. Nov. 1, 1908 : Many fledged young seen. Aug. 28, 1910 : A 
nest containing two eggs and one of Cacomantis flahelliformis. Sept. 11, 1910: 
Several birds sitting, and also young. Sept. 25, 1910 : Caught three fledged 
young (a brood).” 
Mr. Thos. P. Austin has written me : “ While collecting in the Stirling 
Range district. Western Australia, upon my behalf, Thomas A. Burns found 
several nests of this species, and in his notes he states : ‘ The nests were all 
exactly alike, composed of rootlets, fine grass and lined with feathers, placed 
in a slight depression in the ground, in the middle of a sand plain without 
any shelter.”’ 
Mr. H. S. Dove has forwarded me a lot of excellent notes, from which 
I extract the following : “ The Rush- Warbler or Striated Field- Wren sings 
sweetly his little ditty all through the cold wet months of winter and spring ; 
he is, in fact, one of our most persistent songsters, and, I think, there are only 
two months of the jmar, February and March, when his pleasing, oft -repeated 
phrase may not be heard. He loves the swampy plains near the sea, and 
carols forth his lay while sitting upon the apex of a short growth of swamp tea- 
tree, or upon the summit of a big sagg or tussock. Breeding begins, I believe, 
in July, when the songs of the Calamanthus may be heard everywhere about 
the coast ; certainly it is in full swing the following month. The young appear 
to be of a generally darker hue than the parents, and the plumage even more 
c splashed ’ or striated. The adult male is a darker, handsomer bird than his 
mate, the striations are more distinct, and I have noticed as a little trait that 
he sings desperately when one is getting near the nest or young, hoping probably 
to draw one’s attention to himself and thus save the home. Although there 
is, of course, a general likeness in the songs of this species, yet those of 
individuals vary a good deal ; if I go to a spot where something in an individual 
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