Page:The Emu volume 18.djvu/344

 I wished to photograph the nest in situ if practicable. To do this necessitated opening out the top of the clump to enable a view to be obtained of the nest. This, in the long run, proved too much for the female, and she deserted the nest, which I removed a day or two later.

Nests of the Spinifex-Bird will always be most difficult to find, owing to the dense nature of the haunts it inhabits. A few hints, based on my own experiences, may be useful to some future field naturalist who may attempt the task. In the first place, provide gauntlets to cover the hands and wrists. I have torn the spinifex to pieces with bare hands, but this entails some suffering from the many minute punctures to the skin. The points of the spines are apt to break off and remain in the wounds, which become quite painful in consequence. To attack the large, harsh clumps, I think the best weapon of all would be a light pair of gardener's shears, kept very sharp. One could work rapidly with these and without the fear of accidentally damaging a nest, as might happen with an ill-directed blow from a light axe or billhook. A tomahawk is of no use. Having located a male, watch him and listen in an unobtrusive way for the presence of his mate. The male always calls at daybreak, and, unless it is very windy, at intervals during the day, and again in the evening till after sunset. He is not timid, and will call from any point of vantage. If the female is there she frequently adds to his call of "Je suis" three harsh grating notes like the syllables "Jut-jut-jut," the interval between the second and third notes being shorter than that between the first and second. The female is much more secretive than the male until the young are being fed. Having located a pair, note, especially during the middle of the day, what particular part of the spinifex the male calls from the most frequently. I am of opinion the female does all the nest-building, and that the male calls from any point of vantage near to the nest. So far I have no evidence that the species builds in anything but the harsh, prickly spinifex (Triodia); but it occasionally happens that small bushes are surrounded by this grass, and a fork of such a bush might be used as a nesting-site, provided it was well hidden by the surrounding growth. In all, I have found but four nests, from three of which the young had flown. One was in a very large clump, two in rather smaller, and one in quite a small clump surrounding a slender bush. I must state that pairs are only found where the spinifex is of luxuriant growth, and not where a wide area presents a view of innumerable small clumps.

When one has formed a general idea as to the locality of the nest, commence the search by examining each clump for any opening sufficient to allow the entry of a small bird, and not too den.sc to furnish a cavity sufficient to contain the somewhat large and substantial nest. Avoid those matted clumps that will bear the weight of a 10-stone man. The rest is a matter of patient watching and persevering work with the shears. The nests I found were all higher than the centre of the clump. The base of the spinifex is usually too dense and matted to afford a nesting-site. The eggs of the Spinifex-Bird have been described by Mr. H. L. White. They show an affinity with those of Megalurus and also with those of the European Grasshopper-Warbler (Locustella nævia). The nest, too. though it differs from that of Megalurus striatus, is not unlike that of the Grasshopper-Warbler, being entirely composed of fine grasses, without any lining of fur or feather. The three species of birds,