EMU-WREN. 
wind, for their tail feathers w'ould upset them if they flew w'ith the breeze. 
They do not attempt a long flight at any time, rarely fluttering more than 
twenty yards. Once they have settled, it is almost impossible to flush them 
again. On Oct. 4th, 1908, at Erankston, in a thicket of Melaleuca and Leptos- 
permum, a pair of birds w r ere flying around us as though a nest was concealed 
not far away. They would advance from stem to stem and peer curiously 
at us through the bushes and then retreat again, uttering weak squeaky 
notes. We searched the scrub well in the locality and watched the birds 
for a considerable time, but they did not betray the nest. Their twitter 
resembles slightly the song of the Blue Wren, but it is very weak in com- 
parison.” 
Mr. Edwin Ashby’s notes read : “ This active little bird was very 
common in swampy ground near Cranbrook, Victoria. They frequented 
some dense low bushes not more than three or four feet high, perhaps five or 
six through. The birds would fly from the top of one bush to the base of 
the next, only a few feet, and commence rapidly ascending the bush, and 
traversing it from one side to the other ; suddenly the bird would emerge out 
of the top on the far side, and immediately fly to the base of the next bush, 
and this restlessness made them difficult to shoot. It was most remarkable 
how they made their way with such rapidity through the very dense bushes 
and yet their long fragile tails were uninjured.” 
Mr. J. W. Mellor’s notes confirm the preceding, and he states he noted 
them on a sedgy flat at Ourimbah in the Gosford District in New South 
Wales ; he saw them just outside Launceston, Tasmania, and that formerly 
they were plentiful at the Reed-beds, South Australia, but that recently they 
have never been met with. They may exist in the swampy and grassy 
localities near Mount Gambier in the south-east of the State (South 
Australia).” \\ 
Mr. Frank Littler wrote me about the Tasmanian form : “ Prefers 
thick, scrubby tracts, with plenty of undergrowth and long grass, in which it 
is able to conceal itself with ease. This fact and an extreme nimbleness of 
foot explain the reason why it is so seldom seen. The wings are very little 
used ; in fact, there is hardly any need to use them, as nearly the whole of 
the life of the bird is passed among tangled thickets. Its food consists of 
insects of all descriptions, both winged and creeping. These are procured 
from the ground and on the limbs of the fallen trees. It rarely ascends 
into the trees. It backs into the nest and its tail may be seen over the bird’s 
back.” 
Miss J. A. Fletcher has published several accounts of this bird in the 
Emu, to which reference may be made, but I here transcribe the notes sent 
VOL. X. 
137 
