THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Captain S. A. White, the son of the Mr. White noted above, has written 
me : “ This is also a bird of the dry country, but like E. albifrons , likes the 
salt bush and samphire plains ; its habits are like those of the other two Chats, 
and I have seen it as far south as the Reed beds, but only on rare occasions ; 
it shifts according to food supply.” 
Mr. J. W. Mellor states : “ The Yellow Tintac was also found on the 
Adelaide Plains at the Reed beds in the early days, but has now quite departed, 
and does not come so far south here. I have seen it plentiful at Port Augusta 
at the head of Spencer’s Gulf, also at Port Pine and at Port Germein, both 
on the eastern shores of Spencer’s Gulf. I have always found it on the open 
bleak samfire salt swamps bordering the sea coast, where it runs rapidly over 
the open land seeking out the little insects and flies that are in these moist 
localities ; it does not resort to long flights, but when flushed it merely flies 
a short way and settles again, running with remarkable rapidity over the 
salt ground and between the lumps of growing samfire ; its habits are some- 
what similar to those of the White-fronted Tintac, going in little covies of half- 
dozens or in pairs. In the interior the birds like the same situations in the 
salt and samfire swampy flats surrounding the brackish inland lakes. The 
breeding-season of the bird differs according to locality, as in the southern 
latitudes they keep fairly well to the spring months, August to November, 
but in the dry interior they seem to lay when the rainy season comes round.” 
Mr. Edwin Ashby writes to the same effect : “ While in the early days 
this bird was not uncommon on the flats between Adelaide and the sea-coast 
it has not been seen there for many years, but it still occurs on the samphire 
flats twenty-five miles north of Adelaide, where I have seen small flocks. I 
have collected it at Nackara and Port Pirie and have skins sent me from Leigh’s 
Creek. I also saw it in fair numbers near Venus Bay, towards the West 
Australian border in the Great Bight. It is a bird of the samphire and salt 
bush flats, searching for food on the ground in small flocks.” 
From Macgillivray’s most interesting article on the Region of the Barrier 
Range is extracted : “ We now entered upon sandy country more scrubby 
in character, but the scrub was very open ; it consisted of turpentine bush, 
blue and salt bush. White-winged Wrens and Tricoloured Chats were 
plentiful, and a few Orange-fronted Chats, the ‘ Saltbush Canary’ of bushmen, 
were seen. We made our camp near a large open swamp on which were 
a few Ducks. The country we had walked through has been a deep, loose 
sandy soil, drifted into hillocks and ridges in places, and supporting a perennial 
vegetation of salt bush, blue bush and turpentine. The herbage was very 
good, and comprised a number of flowering annuals ; the deep sandy soil 
seems to suit them. Scorpions and ground-dwelling spiders were numerous. 
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