Page:The Emu volume 9.djvu/282

 September I obtained a pair of incubated eggs. This nest was in a bunch of mistletoe.

(Anthus australis).—Distributed in scattered pairs throughout all open country, but nowhere numerous.

(Mirafra secunda) (?).—In the spinifex at Bore Well I saw a brown bird whose actions and flight reminded me of this species, but it was the only one I saw, and I am not too certain of its identity.

(Tæniopygia castanotis).—Never before have I seen this Finch so abundant. Around all wells, rock-holes, or permanent water they were in dozens upon dozens. I found nests near Nannine in June, and, from the numbers of immature birds on the wing, they had evidently been breeding for some months. When I left Milly Pool, 6th November, pairs were still building. Their nests were everywhere—from the hollow spouts of eucalypts to the smallest salt-bushes. It was only in the samphires that I failed to find them. One hakea bush near my camp at Milly Pool contained thirteen nests, all of this season. In this bush three nests were actually touching one another. Other nests in quite an unfinished state contained eggs. All were of the same type—oval in shape, and built of fine grasses, with the entrance sheltered by a spout or pent-house. The lining of a new nest is neat and warm, and consists as a rule of the soft, downlike flowers of Dicrastyles fulva. Six eggs was a common clutch, but more often four or five. Some were white, others had a tinge of yellow; others, again, were bluish-white. I made it a rule to peep into all accessible nests, in the hope of finding a Cuckoo's egg, but had no luck in this respect.

This was the only Finch I identified with certainty; but on two occasions, in the spinifex at Bore Well, I met with another species that I failed to secure. In the first instance I encountered a single bird; I fired at and missed it. A heavy gale was blowing at the time. On the second occasion I saw three, but had used my last dust-shot cartridge, and had only No. 3 left. I fired to the side of one bird with a quarter charge, in the hope that a stray shot would hit it. But again no luck. These Finches looked like Stictoptera annulosa, but I am very uncertain. I hope some other ornithologist visiting the East Murchison will clear this point up.

(Corvus coronoides).—Nowhere numerous, but always a flock hanging around the slaughter-yard at Wiluna. I examined the remains of half a dozen or so which appeared to have been poisoned, but they were too much mutilated to determine whether or not they were of the present species or C. bennetti. A pair had a nest near Bore Well, but the young flew soon after my arrival.

(Strepera plumbea).—Distinctly rare. I caught sight of a single bird at Bore Well, and also heard the notes of a pair near a likely-looking nest in a tall gidgi tree. The situation of this nest was too dangerous to warrant an attempt to rifle it—a weak horizontal branch at a height of 35 feet, with the nest on the extreme end, out of reach of a scoop, and an outcrop of jagged ironstone rocks below. A broken limb in these lonely scrubs is a serious matter, the chances of timely assistance being remote.

(Chlamydodera guttata).—When I left home I had just the faint hope I might encounter this rare and