VARIEGATED WREN. 
wing 48, tail 68, tarsus 23. Figured. Collected at Day Dawn, West Australia, 
on the 15th of June, 1903. 
Adult female. Very similar to the above, but lighter, and with the bills, lores and eye-ring, 
dull red. 
f 
Nest. “ Dome-shaped, with entrance near the top. Outwardly it is formed of silky- 
white dried grasses and their flowering plant stalks, the inside being lined at 
the bottom with plant down. 5 inches high by 3 wide.” (North.) 
Eggs. Clutch, three or four, white speckled or spotted with purplish-red, more on the 
larger end. 17 mm. by 12. 
Breeding-season. September to December. 
Vigors and Horsfield gave no field notes when they described this species, 
simply stating : “ These two last birds (i.e., the present and M. cyaneus) have 
long been considered varieties of the same species, and have been figured as 
such in White’s Journal. Independently, however, of the difference between 
the two birds in their colours, and in the distribution of them, we may observe 
that the tail of the latter bird is much more graduated than that of Mai. 
cyaneus, while the under wing-coverts are whitish, which in Mai. cyaneus are 
rufous.” 
Gould added nothing regarding its habits. 
Captain S. A. White has written me : “ L. lamherti. — I have met with this 
bird in many localities in New South Wales and Queensland ; they seem to 
keep to the good rainfall belts, for I have never seen them in the dry, back 
country where L. 1. assimilis take their place. L. I assimilis. — I contend that 
this bird is found over the greater part of South Australia, and that L. 1. 
morgani is confined to the Gawler Ranges. To me there is no doubt that the 
bird found in New South Wales and Victoria is the same as the South 
Australian bird with the exception of those from the Gawler Ranges.” 
Mr. J. W. Mellor writes : “ M. assimilis is very common in the bush 
country where there is cover. I saw them on the plains and in the Flinders 
Ranges, but always in cover, from which they ‘ break,’ ever and anon, to fly 
across some clear space, only to enter another thicket ; they can be called 
out by imitating the twittering calls of the male birds, and as they are 
somewhat tame and inquisitive, I have called quite a little covey in this way, 
hopping out to me quite confidingly.” 
Mr. Edwin Ashby states : “ I shot a fine cock at the Palm Woods at the 
foot of the Blackall Range in Queensland. I have also received an immature 
male from further north, but I believe it is much more common further south 
in New South Wales.” 
Mr. J. W. Mellor has written me : “I have seen M. lamberti fairly plentiful 
in the hill country of New South Wales and also in Queensland, and I have 
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