Page:The Emu volume 9.djvu/265

 the nest in the salt-bush, flushed a female M. leucopterus from the eggs. This was disappointing, though no more than I expected. The Acanthiza did not put in an appearance at all. I walked over to the spot I suspected, and, after a few minutes' search, found a second nest, not in the salt-bush, but cleverly interwoven and sheltered by the topmost spray of a clump of samphire. This nest was more globular, too, and more loosely woven, and in a circular fashion. It was the image of my Lake Austin nest, now on exhibition in the Perth Museum. To my delight this nest contained three eggs. The male and female were skulking near, but would not come up to the nest. Carefully packing the eggs, I went home quite satisfied as to their identity. They were the first authentic eggs ever taken of Acanthiza tenuirostris. They differed from typical eggs of Malurus leucopterus, the markings being more sparse and fainter. In size, too, they were slightly smaller, but the structure of the nest was totally different, and agreed with the nest I eventually found of the first pair except that the latter had a lining of rabbit fur whilst the present nest had a lining of white or buffish vegetable down of the plant known as Dicrastyles fulva.

(Pyrrholæmus (Sericornis) brunnea).—Generally distributed throughout the district. It breeds early. The young were on the wing second week in August. I obtained two typical clutches of eggs. These nests remained empty so long that I quite gave them up, thinking they had been robbed by the blacks. One was in a salt-bush, the other in tea-tree scrub. This species is a splendid mimic, and reproduces the songs of all the surrounding birds. In passing, it may be worth recording that on one occasion I took eggs from a nest built in the burrow of a lizard and quite under ground. A blackfellow in front of me walked right over the nest, flushing the female in so doing.

(Malurus splendens).—Rare and very local. Though I heard of blue birds at Lake Way, which came round one's camp, I hardly expected them to be of this species. It was one of the surprises of my trip. I only met with two parties near Wiluna, and another near Milly Pool.

(Malurus leucopterus). —The commonest Wren of the district. I found seven or eight nests. Several contained four eggs, and in three instances the nest contained an egg of the Narrow-billed BronzeCuckoo. Several clutches were very boldly marked, the blotches inclining to hazel-brown rather than rufous-brown.

(Malurus assimilis).—Sparingly distributed throughout the district. I found one nest, but it must have been disturbed, for when I visited it later it was quite abandoned.

(Stipiturus ruficeps).—Rare, and confined to the big spinifex plain west of Bore Well. In its habits this rare Emu-Wren differs but little from the commoner species in the south-west. It is a terrible skulker, and a very feeble flier, but hops along the sand between the tufts of spinifex at a remarkable speed. Though it is such a skulker it is not really a shy bird. The difficulty is to find it. But when once found it is easy, by imitating its feeble notes, or the cry of a wounded bird, to make it show itself. By the latter method I brought a male right up to my feet. Despite much labour, I failed to get eggs; but I found a very small nest of the previous year—smaller than that of M. leucopterus—and also differently woven. This was placed in stunted spinifex, and was woven of soft dry grasses, bleached nearly to whiteness. The lining appeared to have been white or buff-coloured vegetable down. On returning home I tramped through all this spinifex, a distance of 12 miles, in the forlorn hope of finding a late nest. As luck would have it I walked right into the midst of a family party. I secured the male and two of the young. The former had only two tail feathers. The young are much less rufous than the adult, being of a dull snuff-colour, with the same markings as the female.