STRIATED GRASS-WREN. 
amazing rapidity ; and it was only by forcing it to take wing that I succeeded 
in killing the one I obtained, which on dissection proved to be a male. All 
the specimens I have seen from New South Wales were in the red state of 
plumage, which goes far towards proving that this bird is really distinct from 
Amytis textilis. Nothing has yet been ascertained respecting its nidification ; 
its food, like that of the Textile Wren, consists of insects of various kinds. 
As might be conjectured from its form, its habits are terrestrial ; and it rarely, 
if ever, mounts into the air, or flies except among the trees.” 
North stated that it was rare or extinct at the type locality. 
Howe found it in the Victorian Mallee, writing : “ While walking about 
this same patch of porcupine, another note caught our ears, and tracing it 
to a bunch of grass, I put my foot down ; immediately a bird was heard to 
utter a cry, and my companion, coming to my aid, secured it ; it was a young 
Amytornis, a few' weeks from the nest. Shortly afterwards, Mr. Scarce flushed a 
bird from a beautifully built nest, placed in the side of a porcupine bush, 
and containing three fairly fresh eggs. On 11th October, when on our way 
to Pinaroo, we found the birds very plentiful at No. 8 bore, and two more 
nests, each containing two eggs, were found. This bird makes wonderful 
pace as it runs through and around the porcupine ; with the feathers 
puffed out it resembles a small rat. They possess a rather sweet and 
warbling song.” 
Wilson added : “ Being of an extremely shy nature and possessed 
of great running powers, it soon disappears from sight amongst the tussocks. 
It is, however, very curious, and on hearing a strange noise cautiously 
mounts some spot of vantage to find out whence it comes.” 
Chandler also found nests in the same locality. 
Captain S. A. White’s notes read : “ We met with M. striata howei in 
the Mallee, east of the Murray in November, 1911. There was a fair amount 
of so-called spinifex, porcupine bush ( Trioda irritans) amongst the scrub. 
The birds were very shy and it was only after much calling and waiting 
that specimens could be procured ; the stomachs contained many small 
seeds as well as the remains of insect life. I next met with this bird a few 
years later in similar scrub, mallee and porcupine bush, but further north 
out from Karoonda on the Paringe railway line. Although seen passing 
from bush to bush with great rapidity, it took some considerable time to 
procure a specimen, for they move about among the porcupine and low scrub 
more after the manner of a mouse than the bird. I have never met with 
this species north of the Murray belts, in fact, have never seen it on the west 
side of the river, and it does not extend into the vast salt-bush plains of the 
interior.” 
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