SPOTTED SCRUB-WREN. 
Warren River and its many tributary brooks, at a distance of about fifteen 
miles from the coast. It has a trilling alarm note.” 
Milligan’s note about the Wongan Hills form was short : “ Cannot believe 
to be identical with the coast bird.” 
Whitlock, writing about the Stirling Ranges birds, stated: “The Spotted 
Scrub-Wren is by no means a rare bird in the Ranges in suitable haunts ; but, 
owing to the dense nature of the scrubs and the secretive habits of the female 
during the actual nesting season, the nest is a difficult one to find.” 
Carter described the Dirk Hartog Island Wren and wrote : “ This new 
Scrub- Wren was the commonest bird on Dirk Hartog Island. Almost every 
bush of any size seemed to hold one or two, and on very windy days (which often 
occur in the summer months) when small birds keep in the shelter of the scrub, 
one has only to sit down under a bush, squeak with one’s lips, and one or a pair 
of this species will almost invariably appear at once. They are excessively 
tame, and will hop about among the twigs within a foot of one’s face, often 
uttering a scolding note like ‘ tchut, tchut.’ At other times they have what 
appears to be an alarm note like 4 pee-wee-wee.’ What seems to be their song 
is a musical trilling, resembling that of the British Grasshopper Warbler. 
Many fledged young were seen after the end of September. Scrub- W T rens also 
occurred on the Peron Peninsula, but were not nearly so plentiful as on Dirk 
Hartog Island. Their habits and notes were the same. No Scrub- Wrens have 
ever been observed by the writer in the Gascoyne district or further north.” 
Campbell later wrote : “ The western Scrub- Wren seems to have a wide 
range, but has not been recorded further north than the Shark Bay district, 
where naturally it is lighter coloured than typical birds from the south-west 
forest country. There appears no difference in specimens from either Dirk 
Hartog Island, Bernier Island (next but one northward to Dirk Hartog) and 
the mainland. ... It appears that Grant’s name, balstoni, and description 
will amply serve to distinguish the Sericornis in Shark Bay region, including 
the islands thereabouts.” 
Whitlock’s field notes read : “ Very common on Dirk Hartog, haunting 
the larger bushes, especially where there are dead ones by preference. It often 
happened when I found a Malurus or other small nest, that the owners were 
invisible. Whenever I attempted to call them up, a pair, or more often three 
individuals of this Scrub-Wren invariably put in an appearance. It is common 
on Peron Peninsula too, but hardly so numerous as on Dirk Hartog. I spent 
a lot of time watching this species in the hopes of finding a nest but was com- 
pletely baffled. I saw one pair only, accompanied by a brood of three young 
ones ; I am therefore inclined to think it breeds at the end of summer, March 
or April. On the Peron Peninsula an old nest was found which, I think, was 
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