THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Mr. Edwin Ashby sent me a note : “I found this bird very common at 
Callion, West Australia. At sunrise directly the first rays of the sun shone 
amongst the bushes a regular orchestra of song filled the secluded shallow valleys. 
Sometimes I could count as many as five birds singing their sweet, somewhat 
gentle song within a few yards of one another. I have received specimens 
from Lake Gillies, South Australia.” 
Mr. Tom Carter has written : “ In the region of the North-West Cape this 
species is not uncommon in the scrub among coast hills and also inland. It is 
very quiet and unobtrusive in its habits, and would not be much noticed 
were it not for its beautiful song.” 
Milligan, writing from the Wongan Hills, West Australia, stated : “A 
very common bird everywhere in the Hills was Sericornis ( Pyrrholcemus ) brunnea. 
During the first morning’s outing in low scrubs I met with a family of them. 
The whole brood, headed by the parent birds, passed where I stood, hopping 
swiftly along the ground and through the undergrowth, each uttering a 
subdued, plaintive, single note, which produced a singular effect. The song 
of the adult when not en famille is quite different, and consists of a series of 
loud, cheery notes frequently uttered whilst hopping through the scrubs. They 
enlivened the hill lands very much with their distinctive song. We found, too, 
that they were not above borrowing their neighbour’s notes. One morning, 
Mr. Conigrave and I followed what we took to be a Oalamanthus, or Field Lark, 
through the dwarf scrubs on the hillside. After some time we espied the bird 
sought for sitting at the foot of a small shrub and uttering the same notes. My 
companion shot him, and on picking him up found him to be, not the species 
his song denoted, but Sericornis brunnea. The Wongan Hills bird is 
slightly smaller than those from the north-west and the interior, and the throat 
patch is much less extensive and is a deep rusty red.” 
Whitlock, writing of the birds of the East Murchison, reported: “Generally 
distributed throughout the district. It breeds early. The young were on the 
wing second week in August. I obtained two typical clutches of eggs. These 
nests remained empty so long that I quite gave them up, thinking they had been 
robbed by the blacks. One was in a saltbush, the other in tea-tree scrub. This 
species is a splendid mimic, and reproduces the songs of all the surrounding 
birds. In passing, it may be worth recording that on one occasion I took eggs 
from a nest built in the burrow of a lizard and quite under ground. A black 
fellow in front of me walked right over the nest, flushing the female in so doing.” 
Mr. Tom Carter has written : “ Pallid Redthroats were common in the 
scrub around Carnarvon, and north of there. Recently fledged young were 
noted on 26th August, 1911. These birds make a peculiar fluttering noise with 
their wings when flying.” 
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