Page:The Emu volume 21.djvu/260

 Referring to the Tits (Acanthizæ), I saw nothing of the Thick-billed (A. robustirostris), which is included in Mr. Gibson's list. At Zanthus the local forms of the Broad-billed (A. apicalis) was nesting in July. The nests were of the usual type, placed at a height of from two to three feet from the ground in any suitable bush. The Slender-billed (A. iredalei) occurred very sparingly at Naretha, but out on the plains at Haig and Loongana it was not uncommon.

The Red-throat (Pyrrholæmus brunnea) was observed at Zanthus, but was very local. A nest was found cunningly placed in the inside of a small circular ring of spinifex (Triodia). The nest was invisible without parting the spinifex by which it was sheltered. It contained two eggs nearly hatched. At Naretha, a nest was found quite unconcealed and almost on the ground. It had been disturbed and was forsaken. The only eggs it contained was one of the Black-eared Cuckoo (Mesocalius osculans). On the plain the Red-throat was rare.

Field Wrens (Calamanthus campestris) were rare until I searched well out on the plains. At Haig they were fond of haunting the neighbourhood of rabbit earths. I obtained one nest with three eggs. This nest was placed on the ground in a slight hollow, and was concealed by a tuft of half-dead blue-bush. The female slipped away like a mouse. I chased a young one which had left the nest before it could fly. It tried to escape by darting down a rabbit burrow. The burrow happened to be a very short one, and on thrusting down my arm I caught the fugitive. After an examination I released it again, when it took refuge in another and deeper burrow. Birds seem fully aware of the protection offered by rabbit burrows, and more than once I lost birds through their fluttering inside them. A winged Dottrel (Peltohyas australis) was amongst those which escaped in this manner.

The Black-breasted Song-Lark (Cinclorhamphus cruralis) was very common out on the plain. The train disturbed numbers, as it travelled along, from the grassy margins at the side of the track. When I reached Haig young were on the wing, but pairs were still nesting. I found several beautifully constructed nests, in excavated hollows, sheltered by tussocks of grass. The linings of these nests were of the finest grasses, and were wonderfully neat. The eggs varied in number from three to four.

Amongst the Chats, the Red-capped (Epthianura tricolor) was extremely common around Haig on the plains. Young birds were very numerous around the dongas and amongst the saltbush on the edge of the various belts of timber. Pairs of this species, and also of the Orange Chat (E. aurifrons) were still breeding at the end of October. The Nullarbor Plain appears to be the headquarters of the Red-capped in the west. The White-fronted Chat (E. albifrons) was comparatively rare, but I found a nest containing exceptionally well marked eggs at Naretha. The only Wren-Warbler (Malurus) met with on the expedition was