THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Grass Wren ( Diaphorillas striata) when disturbed from a bunch of porcupine 
grass ; other notes are silvery and tremulous, and it also utters the familiar 
high-pitched staccato notes of the White-throated Treecreeper, but sweeter 
and not so sustained. The bird is arboreal, and may feed on ants on fallen 
dead trees in company with its White-throated cousin. The flight, rapid and 
undulating, also resembles that of the White-throated bird. The birds are 
silent at times, and hours may be spent in their feeding grounds without 
catching a note. The first intimation that they are about is, perhaps, a few 
high-pitched, harsh notes, often difficult to locate, or else, after a lightning- 
like streak, a bird alights on a tree trunk, and, as its back is turned towards 
one, it has then to be ascertained whether it is C. erythrops or not. In this 
country of dense undergrowth, it is difficult to follow the birds. However, 
they are strictly local. Two pairs I know can always be located in about 
twenty acres of dense scrub and big timber. . . The breeding season 
extends from August to January, and two broods are reared. The superciliary 
stripe is never white in either sex, as in the male of the White-browed Tree- 
creeper (C. superciliosa). The Red-browed bird is also more robust in form.” 
In my writings I have previously considered the White-browed Tree- 
creepers to differ subspecifically only from the Red-browed ones, but I now 
think it best to treat them as distinct species. 
Consequently of the present species two forms only are admissible: 
Cormobates erythrops erythrops (Gould). 
New South Wales. 
Cormobates erythrops olinda (Mathews). 
“ Differs from C. e. erythrops Gould in having a darker head and back. 
Olinda, Victoria.” 
Victoria. 
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