THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
with its strong legs and claws it scratches the rubbish about in search of insect 
titbits. It can easily be brought to the edge of the thick bushes in 
which it lives, by uttering a squeaking noise with the lips, its inquisitive nature 
getting the better of its shyness. As to 8. gularis, this is very sparsely distributed 
in the Kent group, and doubts were even entertained as to its existence prior 
to 1908, when on Deal Island I left the main party for the purpose of 
investigating this species, and after considerable trouble in penetrating the thick 
bushes I was able to call a couple of birds to me, and secure one. Another of the 
party went in another direction and secured a couple of young birds, showing 
that the birds had not long done breeding, but of course no notes were obtained 
as to its breeding habits.” 
Probably the best descriptive work done by an Australian was that of 
A. G. Campbell, and dealing with Victorian and Tasmanian birds in a comparative 
sense he wrote : “ Scrub- Wrens. Several phases exist in Tasmania and the 
adjacent islands of this genus, which are sufficiently distinct from one another 
to be made subspecies. The specimens of 8. humilis from Mount Wellington 
are the largest and darkest of all ; those from Launceston are different in size 
and colour ; the mantle, instead of being dark olive, is tinged with rufous ; 
the head and the outer edges of the primaries are of a much lighter tint, and the 
tail is brownish- olive instead of deep brown. The legs are black, and not dark 
brown, while the dark subterminal band on the tail is pronounced in the northern 
variety, but very obscure in the southern. The sexes are distinguished in each 
case by the lores being black in the male and slate coloured in the female. On 
King Island the bird more closely resembles S. humilis, but, besides being lighter 
in general colour and with no prominent dark centres to the chest feathers, it 
has distinct subterminal tail markings, and, further, the dusky under tail- 
coverts are tipped with dull yellow, a point characteristic of 8. osculans of the 
mainland, but not noticed in 8 . humilis proper. The young is of a deep rich 
brown colour. But it is with the Sericornis from Kent Group, the nearest of 
Tasmanian islands to the mainland, that the greatest difference is shown. 
They are distinctly two strains, the larger, 8 . gularis (Legge) having a longer 
bill and shorter wings than 8. humilis ; general colour greyish-olive ; throat 
feathers brownish- black, a few only showing lighter edges ; under tail-coverts 
edged with dull yellow ; tail minus any dark subterminal band. The smaller 
specimens are of a peculiar washed-out appearance, the mantle being rust- 
coloured on scapulars, back, and rump, with a lighter head, minus any prominent 
markings ; white edgings to greater wing-coverts very faint ; under tail- 
coverts and flanks brownish-fawn ; tail uniform. Several specimens obtained 
are presumably adult birds, so the existence of two phases in one area must be 
due to their living in different surroundings.” 
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