GRASS- WREN. 
“1. Displaying tliemselves with outspread wings and tail. It appeared 
to result from curiosity and anger combined. 
“2. Climbing up the branches of bushes. As this action was performed 
in the midst (not outside) of densely foliaged bushes, it was impossible to be 
certain whether the beak was used as well as the feet, but it seemed as if it was, 
the action being the same as when Parrots climb. 
“3. Jumping to the ground from bushes, apparently without spreading 
the wings, which most birds use in such cases. 
“The gizzards of almost all the Grass-Wrens examined were found to contain 
a few very hard yellow objects that looked like seeds from some bush or plant. 
. . . I failed to collect any seeds resembling them. They appeared to be 
too hard to be eggs of any description, as it was very difficult to cut one with 
a pocket-knife. 
“No breeding notes were made, and no immature birds were obtained. 
This species was very partial to the dark shade and shelter afforded by the large 
clumps of spreading wattles that seemed to be of a variety peculiar to Dirk 
Hartog Island. The striped mantles of this Grass-Wrenare eminently protective 
when the birds are in the dark shade of the lower branches of the wattles, as the 
white stripes blend with the whitish dead twigs, which are always very 
numerous in the lower part of the bushes. 
“This species is at times very tame, or perhaps inquisitive would be a better 
word, but, as a rule, the birds are of the most agile and elusive habits, as may 
be inferred from the above notes. They are undoubtedly very local in distribu- 
tion on the island, but being so chary of leaving the shelter and security of the 
thick scrub, they are probably more numerous than is apparent. It is to be 
feared that domestic cats in a wild state, which are now becoming numerous 
on the island (as well as everywhere else in Western Australia), will be a great 
menace to this and other scrub-hunting birds. At my suggestion, Dirk Hartog 
Island has been recently proclaimed a reserve for Native Game by the Colonial 
Secretary of Western Australia. The female birds only have the chestnut 
flank marks.” 
Whitlock then was sent by H. L. White to find the nest and eggs of these 
birds, and he wrote : “I regret that owing to the ravages of cats on Dirk Hartog 
I did not see a single example during a persistent search of three months’ duration. 
I had my experiences with the interior form at Lake Austin and Lake Way to 
guide me, so I do not think I was personally at fault. . . . On crossing over 
to Peron Peninsula ... I was successful ... I sat down under a bush . . . 
my attention was arrested by the sound of three peculiar high-pitched notes 
uttered in a descending scale very difficult to express on paper. I 4 chirped ’ 
in reply, when out hopped a fine male Grass- Wren at a distance of 10 yards. . . . 
VOL. 
X. 
177 
