SCRUB- WREN. 
brown ; under wing-coverts buffy-wliite ; under-surface of flight-quills and lower 
aspect of tail hair-brown. Eyes and feet brown, bill dark brown. Collected at 
Momington, Victoria, on the 17th of September, 1909. 
Nest. Domed, with side entrance. Loosely composed of bark, leaves, etc., and lined 
with feathers or other soft materials. Outside measurements about 6 inches wide 
by 8 deep. 
Eggs. Clutch three. Whitish stone or grey with a dark zone of purplish-brown at the 
larger end. 20-22 mm. by 15-16. 
Breeding-season. July to December. 
Vigors and Horsfield described this species without any remark whatever, 
even omitting any locality. 
When Gould proposed the new genus Sericornis for Vigors and Horsfield’s 
species he also added Sericornis par vulus, wdiich he later regarded as synonymous. 
His observations read : “ This little bird inhabits the brushes, and those humid 
situations which are clothed with thick underwood, such as the sides of creeks, 
gullies, etc. The locality in which it is most abundant is the south-eastern 
part of Australia, where it is very numerous in all the dense forests which stretch 
along the coast between Sydney and Moreton Bay ; and I believe I may 
safely state that its range does not extend westward of the 134th degree 
of East longitude, beyond which a nearly allied species is found; the species, 
therefore, inosculate about Spencer’s and St. Vincent’s Gulfs, in South Australia. 
Like the other members of the genus, this bird generally hops about the 
bottoms of the brushes, selecting in preference the most humid parts, where 
rotten wood and moss-covered stones afford some peculiar species of insect 
food, upon which it is destined to live. The present is one of the smallest species 
of its form yet discovered, and was always a favourite with me ; for in the inmost 
recesses of the forest the presence of this little bird, hopping about from 
stone to stone in search of its insect food, now and then broke the monotony of 
the scene with its inward warbling strain.” 
Soon after Vigors and Horsfield had described their Acanthiza frontalis , 
the French voyageurs Quoy and Gaimard figured and described from Western 
Port, Victoria, a bird under the name Saxicola longirostris. Whatever the 
reason, it was not recognised as this bird by Gould or G. R. Gray, although 
the illustration is quite a good one, and since I reinstated Quoy and Gaimard’s 
name there has been no question of its association with this species. 
Soon afterwards Gould named a number of species of this genus which have 
caused complications in this connection as will be seen. 
Captain S. A. White has sent me the following note : “ S. /. longirostris. 
This bird is very plentiful in many parts of Victoria I have visited and they are 
to be met with on the edges of the scrubs in the early mornings and evenings. 
VOL. X. 
9 
