Order PASSERIFORMES. 
No. 96. 
Family SYLVIIDJE. 
STIPITURUS MALACHURUS. 
(mallee.) 
MALLEE EMU WREN. 
(Plate 72.) 
Stipiturus malachurus Mathews, Birds Austr., Vol. X., pt. n., p. 131, pi. 465, Dec. 12th, 1922 : 
Partim. 
Stipiturus mallee Campbell, Emu, Vol. VIII., pt. I., p. 34, July 1st, 1908 : Mallee, Victoria ; Howe, 
Emu, Vol. X., pt. 5, p. 336, April, 1911 (nest and eggs). 
Distribution. The Mallee of Victoria. 
Adult male. Head dull chestnut; mantle, back, rump, upper tail-covert and coverts of the wing 
dull olive broadly streaked with blackish-brown ; primary and secondary quills dark 
brownish-ash slightly fringed on the outer web with olive ; tail-feathers disintegrated and 
black in colour ; lores, eyebrow and sides of face silvery-blue ; ear-coverts dull reddish- 
chestnut ; chin and throat dull whitish-blue becoming slighter bluer on the upper chest ; 
chest, breast and abdomen light buff ; sides of body, flanks, thighs, under tail-coverts, 
under wing-coverts and axillaries chestnut-buff ; quills below dark ash-colour. Eyes 
brown, feet light horn, bill black. Total length, 140 mm. : culmen 10, wing 41, tail 74, 
tarsus 16. Kow Plains, Victoria. 
Adult female. Similar to the adult male, but the silver-blue eyebrow only just indicated; the 
lores white and the throat, like the chest—buff—instead of blue. Eyes hazel, feet yellow, 
bill horn. Total length 135 mm. : culmen 10, wing 39, tail 74, tarsus 15. North Kow 
Plains, Victoria. 
Nest. Oval in shape, with the entrance at the side, the opening having the top built out and 
forming a verandah ; outwardly composed of very fine shreds of bark, soft and light- 
coloured grasses, and the down of thistles and flowering shrubs, and decorated here and 
there with a few spiders’ cocoons. Interior lined with feathers and fur. The nest was 
placed in the heart of a bunch of porcupine grass (Triodia). Length 5 inches, breadth 3 ; 
opening 2 inches long by 1 } inches wdde ; interior level with opening to bottom 1 inch. 
Eggs. Clutch three, oval in shape ; texture of shell very fine ; surface slightly glossy ; white, 
with a pinkish tinge, and moderately blotched or spotted all over with reddish-brown or 
rufous. The markings thickest about the larger end, where they form a zone. 14 to 15 mra. 
by 10 to 11 mm. 
Breeding-season. September and October. 
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