BLACK AND WHITE WREN. 
and solved the first problem, the existence and exact appearance of Quoy and 
Gaimard’s Malurus leucopterus. In the Austral. Avian Record , Vol. III., p. 79, 
1917, I gave a fairly complete account of this important item, and I then 
recorded that, as was the custom at that time, Quoy and Gaimard had allowed 
a more famous naturalist, Dumont, to include the species in the articles he was 
writing in the Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles , then in course of publication. 
The plates for the voyage had been prepared and were quoted by Dumont, 
although not at that time published. Dumont’s article was then published 
three months before the part of the voyage in which the birds were named, and 
consequently the first reference must be to Dumont. 
I published a short field note taken from Carter’s MS., which I here 
reproduce : 44 This Black and White Wren was one of the commonest species 
on Dirk Hartog Island, but the full-plumaged males were, almost invariably, 
exceedingly wild, while the females and immature males were tame, and 
could always be 4 chirped ’ close up, often to within a distance of three feet, 
and would remain there as long as one kept still. If an adult male is come 
upon suddenly, say, by one’s going quickly round a bush, it may remain 
motionless for a few seconds. It then flies quickly, and if followed it keeps 
taking longer flights every time it is approached, and eventually is lost to sight. 
Once, on open ground, I came upon a full-plumaged male perched on a dry stick 
about three feet off the ground. There was no cover for me to take and I had 
to approach it openly, and it remained motionless until I got close up. It 
was no use to try and 4 chirp ’ up male birds, but at times, when a party of 
females and immatures were intently watching me and listening to my 
4 chirping,’ the male was seen lurking in the dense foliage of a neighbouring 
bush, but would not openly expose itself. The full-plumaged male, as a rule, is 
accompanied by a party of six to ten females and immatures, and leads them 
away out of danger at high speed, necessitating running to keep them in sight. 
One or two of the birds keep dropping out of sight, and eventually one finds 
that the whole party has vanished in the scrub. The note (song) is a similar 
musical trilling to that of Mai. leuconotus, but it is not uttered nearly as 
frequently. This species usually runs on the ground at great speed, occasion- 
ally hops ; they are very skilful in flying perpendicularly in the air, from a bush, 
and catching small insects on the wing. It apparently breeds in September, 
as a quite recently fledged young bird was noted on October 9th, and many 
of various sizes about October 18th. None of this species were seen or obtained 
by me on the mainland, where the dividing arm of the sea is barely one mile in 
width, but was replaced by Malurus leuconotus, which was fairly common.” 
Carter’s complete field notes were later published in the Ibis, 1917, p. 593, 
et seq., and I note the following additional items of interest : 44 On October 26th 
VOL. X. 
89 
