THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
usually Wo. There is sometimes a lining to the nest of sheep’s wool and a 
few feathers, and I have noticed that this bird as well as other species often 
use brilliantly coloured feathers from Parrots in the lining. In the nest 
previously mentioned, one egg was found in the nest Oct. 8th, 1908, and there 
were some red feathers of Platy. icterotis and green ones of P. semitorquatus 
in the lining. On Oct. 7th, 1906, two eggs were seen in the same nest, and on 
Oct. 10th, 1912, there were also two eggs, so these dates are very regular. 
Other nests were found 15 and 20 ft. from the ground, and sites of others seen 
at much higher elevations and difficult to reach. Fledged young appear 
mostly in October, but have been obtained as early as Sept. 25th. The birds 
are tame in their habits, and odd ones used to come on the house verandah 
and eat bread crumbs. They start at the foot of a tree and search the trunk 
upwards for insects, proceeding by short quick hops, usually accompanied by 
a slight opening of the wings. They are also often seen feeding on the ground, 
turning over the debris of pieces of dark bark, dry leaves and twigs beneath 
the trees in search of insects and grubs. Their only song (!) appears to be a 
rather shrill squeaking note. If one of these birds discovers it is being watched 
it will cleverly ascend the tree, keeping the trunk, or a limb, between it and 
you, even if you keep moving round too. This species was not observed 
east of the Pallinup River, S.E. of Broome Hill. 
“ The Allied Rufous Treecreeper (C. r. obscura) appears to be confined 
in its distribution to the Jarrah forests that occupy such a large area of the 
south-western coastal districts. This Jarrah country extends, roughly, 
for a distance of 350 miles ; from a little east of Albany on the south coast 
to the Moore River about sixty miles north of Perth (Swan River), Lat. 31° S. 
Jarrah is the prevailing timber for about fifty miles inland from the coast. 
West of Ivoyonup, Jarrah grows at a distance of fully seventy miles from the 
coast. Whether the subspecies under consideration is found throughout 
the Jarrah country has yet to be proved, but it probably does so. I obtained 
the type specimens on the Warren River in 1910, as it seemed to me that the 
Treecreepers there were much darker in colour than those about Broome 
Hill. This dark shade, especially on the mantle, is distinctly protective to 
the birds, as they feed mostly on insects contained under and on the bark of 
the Jarrah and Red Gum tree trunks, and the colour of the bird assimilates 
very closely the dark reddish colour of the bark. It will be interesting to 
find if this subspecies also feeds much in the Karri forests, as Karri bark is 
pale yellow, but being very smooth in texture, probably does not contain 
nearly so much insect life as the very rough bark of the Jarrah and Red Gums. 
About Broome Hill the prevailing large timber is White Gum, with yellowish 
white bark, and C. r. obscura would be distinctly conspicuous upon it, much 
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