GRASS BIRD. 
lined with feathers and roots. A few larger feathers are curved over the bowl 
of the nest, these conceal the eggs from view, and at times even the sitting- 
view.” 
Mr. Edwin Ashby writes : “ The low and yet shrill whistle of the little 
Grass-Bird is the commonest note next to that of the Reed-Warblers in the 
swamps along the banks of the Murray. There is a strange uncanniness about 
its whistle so often it seems impossible to tell from which direction the sound 
comes and yet it sounds not more than a few yards away. It is common 
at the Grange near Adelaide and I found it nesting near Port Pirie early in 
September.” 
Captain S. A. White’s notes read : “ This little bird is in nearly every 
lignum, reed or flag swamp throughout the state. I met with them at 
Dalhousie Hot Springs in Central Australia and right down to the coast line. 
Their mournful little call is a familiar sound in the swamps. They build their 
nests in a lignum bush or in the reeds generally those growing in the water ; 
the nest is composed of grass lined very often with animal fur, and often 
two Bald-Coats’ feathers are placed so as to cover over the nest and hide the 
contents. The Kangaroo Island form seems to have the same habits and 
call as the mainland form ; the only difference seen was in their habitat for 
they were often met with out in the open near salt lagoons where there was 
little or no cover.” 
Mr. J. W. Mellor has written : “ The Grass-Bird, or Little Reed-Bird 
as it is often called, was once common at the Reed-beds, but is now no more, 
and its pretty little call of three notes, ‘ peee-peee-peee ’ is no longer heard. 
This bird loves thickly reeded and grassed land where swamps exist, but I 
have also seen it in dry waterless localities, notably on the small islands in 
Spencer’s Gulf. While visiting these islands in 1907, I was surprised to come 
across the bird on several of the islands, especially on Williams’ Island, which 
is a waterless piece of land, sandy and very dry, honeycombed by Petrels and 
thickly covered above the holes with low stunted saltbush, etc., blown and 
gnarled with exposure to the storms. I heard the notes and saw the bird 
plainly for a few seconds only a few feet away and from its note and appear- 
ance it seemed like the mainland form though the habitat was so different.” 
When White and Mellor described the form from Flinders Island they 
simply stated : “ Inhabiting swampy and marshy land, where the birds keep 
closely to the bushes, and utter a plaintive three-note call.” 
This species was described by Gould from Tasmania, and the name was 
used for all Australian birds until 1903 when Milligan described the bird from 
Mid-west Australia as Megalurus striatus. These two species were then 
admitted until 1912, when I reviewed the series for my “ Reference List,” 
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