Page:The Emu volume 21.djvu/192

 128 WHITLOCK, Notes on Birds of Shark Bay. ["^isfoa" away from the open scrub country. In the early morning at Fisher their sweet notes could be heard from all directions, and the birds themselves would come close to the house. They lived on the ground, and ran from bush to bush with tail well cocked. Brown Song-larks {Cinclorhamphus cruralis) were very numerous on the edge of the plain, in the open and scattered scrub country. They had [)aired, were in full song, and were probably breeding. They must have come south much earlier this year.

The Speckled 'arl)ler (Chtlw)iicola sa</itfaia) was noted on the open scrub-country at the edge of the plain. Two nests were found, each containing dark chocolate eggs. The nests were built of dry grass, placed at the base of a bush on the ground. Turquoise Wren-warbler (Maltirits callainus). — These most beautiful wrens were quite numerous round the Soak, keeping strictly to the sandhills, and keeping principally to the Casuar- inas. They were very tame, and came to within a few feet of me as I sat (|uietly under a bush to observe them. Twice the hen birds of the Purple-backed Wren Warbler mixed with them, but as soon as the male Purple-backed tried to join them, he was promptly driven ofif by the female callainus. Purple-backed Wren- Warblers (Maluriis assimUis) were not plentiful, and were noted only roimd the Soak. Whiteface (Aphelocephala leucopsis). — These cheery little birds were numerous out on the plain, and I think were nesting.

F. LAWSON WHITLOCK, R.A.O.U., Tudor, via Albany, W.A.

Mr. Carter's comments on my recent paper on Shark Bay birds appear to call for some further information on my part. In the first place, let me state that none of my references to Mr. Carter's notes in The Ibis were made in a critical spirit. Being a resident in Western Australia, no one reads his notes with greater interest and pleasure than I do.

With regard to the rainfall on Dirk Hartog in the year 1920, prior to my landing in June there had been fully six inches. Young of the local Field-Wren (Calamanthus) and Pipit (Anthus) were then strong on the wing. Compared with Scrub-Wrens (Sericornis^, my experience points to the fact that the young of Calamanthus keep with their parents for a much longer period than do the young of the former. This may account for my not seeing family parties of Sericornis, if my surmise was correct that the species bred at the end of summer. Having already made a collection of the birds found on the island, I