THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Adult male. General colour of the upper-surface olive including the hinder part of the 
head, back, scapulars, and lesser upper wing-coverts ; median and greater upper 
wing-coverts, bastard- wing, and primary-coverts dark-brown with pale edges to 
some of the feathers, flight-quills also dark brown narrowly edged with whitish 
on the inner webs ; tail blackish with whitish or greyish-brown tips to the feathers ; 
fore- part of head whitish with dark centres to some of the feathers ; sides of face 
dusky with buff y- white tips to the feathers ; throat and upper-breast dull white 
irregularly and minutely marked with brown ; lower-breast, abdomen, sides of 
body, thighs, and under tail-coverts dull sulphur-yellow ; under wing-coverts 
buffy-white, under-surface of flight-quills hair-brown ; lower aspect of tail blackish 
tipped with white or greyish-brown. Bill and feet black ; eyes buff. Total length 
90 mm. ; culmen 10, wing 48, tail 36, tarsus 18. Figured. Collected at Lake 
Way, Mid-West Australia, on the 26th of July, 1909, and is the type of Acanthiza 
iredalei. 
Adult female similar to the adult male. 
N est. “ An oblong structure, dome-shaped, with opening near the top. Loosely constructed 
of thin strips of bark of a stringy nature and portion of a soft plant, which are 
woven together and fastened with cobwebs. Warmly lined with a white substance 
resembling wool. Length 5 inches, width nearly 3 inches.” (H. L. White.) 
Eggs. “ Clutch 3, pinkish- white, marked all over but particularly at the larger end, with 
very small spots of dull reddish-brown, 14 mm. by 10.” (ib.) 
Breeding-season. July- August. 
This little Central form was described from Leigh’s Creek, South Australia 
and very soon afterwards Milligan reported it from the Murchison district, 
West Australia concluding : 44 It is nearest allied to A. reguloides, but is a 
smaller bird, and in addition to other differences easily distinguished by its 
yellowish-white upper tail-coverts instead of ochreous as in A. reguloides. 
It appears to me that A. tenuirostris is the western form of A. reguloides or 
vice versa” 
Later Whitlock furnished a complete account of the finding of the nest 
and eggs from which I quote. Writing of the birds of East Murchison he 
stated : 44 1 was glad to renew my acquaintance with this Acanthiza , which 
I added to the avifauna of this State in 1903. I obtained the first Western 
Australian specimens at Lake Austin in that year. I believe these specimens 
were referred to Mr. Zietz, who declared them identical with the types of 
A. tenuirostris from South Australia. There is yet a large tract of country to be 
bridged over before the geographical range becomes continuous. In Western 
Australia I have as yet never met with this Acanthiza away from the samphires. 
Indeed, it seems to exclusively haunt the margins of the salt lakes, where this 
plant and a few varieties of the Scilsolacece abound. I cannot recollect ever 
seeing it perch in a bush, or even in tea-tree scrub, though the latter is abundant 
enough around certain of its haunts. It is an inconspicuous little bird, gifted 
with very feeble powers of song, though its call note is distinct and peculiar. 
456 
