94 THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 
of the day, about half past five every evening they commenced 
calling, continuing until it was dark. You read much about the 
shyness of the Whip-bird, but doesn’t it almost seem as though 
the main difficulty in observing this bird is the astonishing way 
in which its colouring assimilates and blends into its surround- 
ings, its curious stillness aiding the deception. I saw one nest 
there, about four feet up in a dense green bush. The bird sat 
quietly watching us until we could almost touch the nest, then 
flew, to a moss-covered log about five feet away, becoming in- 
stantly lost to sight; there were two wonderful blue-green eggs 
spotted with brown, and I returned a few days later hoping 
they might have hatched; this time the bird showed no fear, 
but waited until I placed my hand on the rim of the nest, one 
second she hesitated while I wondered if she would let me 
stroke her, then with a gliding movement she dropped over the 
edge of the nest and Jay motionless on the ground, becoming at 
once one with the old charred lichen covered logs and foliage 
below. 
NOTES ON THYNNID WASPS. 
By Luke Ganuarp. 
Until recent years, very little was known about the habits 
of the Thynnidae, and I feel there is yet a good deal to learn 
about these useful creatures, the female of which burrows into 
the ground and wages warfare against the curl grubs, which of 
late years have become such a pest in our strawberry beds. 
With this end in view I decided to make a few observations 
this year. 
I chose two places about 4 miles apart to give me a fair 
range. In one I subsoiled about half a rod of ground and 
secured 7 Thynnid pupae and about a dozen curl grubs. In 
the other I treated about 1 rod in a similar way, and from it I 
secured 13 Thynnid cocoons, 2 Seoliid cocoons and two larvae 
clinging to the curl grubs, and about.3 dozen larvae and pupae 
of the curl grubs. In both cases the land treated was part of 
an old strawberry bed, which had been badly effected with curl 
grubs last season. As the ground was very dry, I had to dig 
deep, and most of the specimens were taken at depths varying 
from 5 to 10 inches, the wasp cocoons almost invariably being 
at the lower depths. Possibly this accounts for the lack of data 
in connection with them. These were taken between September 
2nd, 1922, and Oetober 8th, 1922. I opened some of the 
