Page:The Emu volume 21.djvu/193

 did little collecting during my second visit. I had a permit to do so, but Dirk Hartog being a faunal reserve. I naturally refrained as much as possible.

My only reason for alluding to the name "Blue-breasted Wren" was that I considered it a misnomer when applied to Malurus assimilis. I didn't in any sense hold Mr. Carter responsible for it.

With regard to the differences in plumage between the Field-Wrens (Calamanthus) found on Dirk Hartog, Peron Peninsula, and Bernier Island, all depends on what value is to be set on such slight differences, which I still contend require a fine discrimination to detect, when age of birds and age of specimens are taken into consideration. Mr. Carter's method of shuffling a number of skins together, and then picking out those resembling one another most, at the same time ignoring the labels, is an excellent one, and if the result shows consistent differences between specimens from the three adjacent localities, then it is a very interesting fact. But whether the differences merit subspecific rank is still a matter for debate. I am content to abide by the result of Mr. Campbell's examination.

In the case of the coloured plate of the White-winged WrenWarbler (Malurus cyanotus), ! seem to have drawn a wrong inference. Gould doubtfully described this species (?) from a mounted specimen brought to his notice in England. That he had not much confidence in its validity is shown by his recommendation that if it did not stand, the name was to be transferred to its closely allied congener. I thought that the white feathers on the back, as shown in the plate, had been purposely so drawn to show how easily Gould could have been misled. Certainly the extent of white on the wings varies in the individual, perhaps usually due to age; but never in my experience does it extend across the interscapulary region. In drawing attention to this, I thought I was confirming Mr. Carter's own observations.

With regard to the Grass Wren, when I referred to the "few miles of water" separating the localities where Mr. Carter and I obtained our specimens, I had in mind the distance of Dirk Hartog from Peron Peninsula; roughly, about twenty miles, and not the South Passage. I hope my statement as to the reputed differences in plumage is not a more "sweeping one" than Mr. Carter's assertion that the South Passage, with a width of about a mile at its narrowest, prevents the interchange of species between Edel Land and Dirk Hartog. The present-day absence of the Shrike Thrush and Babbler from the latter locality is no evidence that they did not exist there prior to the advent and increase of bush cats. It must not be forgotten that no ornithologist had visited Dirk Hartog for a hundred years until Mr. Carter arrived there. But it has been a sheep station for quite forty years. No doubt cats were introduced with the sheep. Mr. Lloyd, the present manager, told me that formerly small