Royal Australasian Ornithologists' Union

“ Though there were outcrops of rocks near two of its haunts at Lake Austin, and again a huge outcropping quartz reef at Lake Way, I never saw an individual amongst the debris surrounding these formations. The species of salt-bush it prefers grows to a height of about 3 feet. The leaf is very small and sappy, and at fruiting season it has a small bright red berry, which is not unpleasant to the taste. When bruised the leaves have a scent like common garden sage. These bushes always grow singly, and generally on rich alluvial flats, but also on low sand-hills. ”

“ I do not consider Cinclosoma marginatum a shy bird. As before mentioned, it still frequents country where active mining operations are in progress, and can be seen within easy distance of the main street of Wiluna. All that is necessary is to walk through the bush quietly, keeping one's eyes well ahead. At the first alarm, perhaps, a pair may run under a bush, but if the observer stands motionless the female, followed by the male, soon comes out again, and both will quietly feed right up to one's feet if reasonable quiet is maintained. ”

“ Again, A. apicalis is an animated, fussy species, always restless, and seldom silent. I resolved to keep an eye open for others. About a mile away, and in similar scrub, I came across a second pair, and, though it was early in the breeding season, I resolved to watch them, in the hope that they were building. After the exercise of much patience, I followed them to a sheltered spot in the scrub which they seemed loth to leave. There I spied a neat, dome-shaped nest, placed low down, without any concealment, in the tea-tree scrub. It looked remarkably substantial for an Acanthiza's nest. ”

“ Much to my disappointment, this was the only nest of these rare eggs I found. I visited the locality again and again, and often encountered the main flock, but, despite much searching, all was in vain. I can only surmise that, the species being resident, many pairs may breed during the summer rains, when insect life is so much more abundant in these interior regions. No doubt beetles and such creatures form a large proportion of the diet of these interesting birds. When feeding a flock keeps in open order and one or other is constantly on the run. ”

“ But the male Bower-Bird, and also, I think, the female, is a great mimic, and reproduces to perfection the notes of many surrounding birds. All the same, he seems to have a preference for harsh sounds, such as the alarm notes of the local Shrike-Thrush, Carter Honey-eater, White-browed Babbler, and the tremulous cries of young Hawks clamouring for food. I have heard a male imitate the notes of Cracticus leucopterus to perfection, and, again, a female gave a perfect rendering of those of Cracticus picatus. ”

“ I am inclined to think we have much to learn respecting its breeding habits.
Narrow-billed Bronze-Cuckoo (Chalcococcyx basalis) .- Fairly common, its high-pressure notes being much in evidence around the margins of Lake Violet. I got several eggs from nests of Malurus leucopterus, and also found a young bird just ready to leave a nest of Acanthiza whitlocki, and again saw a second pair of these birds feeding a young one, which I caught. ”

“ According to my observations, the female does all the building, the male hanging around the nesting site and keeping an eye on things in general. The favourite situation for the nest is a medium-sized or even small narrow-leaved mulga bush, growing in company with two or three similar bushes, but often quite isolated. Where the mulga is large and growing in thickets it is useless to look for the nest, although the bird itself may be found feeding there. ”

“ I have watched the parents feeding their young, and have also watched pairs before the breeding season had set in. They seem to spend most of their time busily searching the samphires or salt-bush for insect life as they flit from bush to bush, and as the observer moves towards them they are rather wary, and, unlike other species of Acanthiza, will not permit of a near approach.
I was very keen on getting the nest and eggs of this species. The nest has already been described by Mr. A. W. Milligan, from an example I obtained containing young at Lake Austin. ”

“ At Lake Austin, in 1903, I shot a pair of small birds I could not identify. Speaking from memory, I think they were identical with the present species. They were sent down to the Perth Museum with other skins, but I never learned to what species they had been referred.
This little Honey-eater is confined to tracts of country where large mulga and other tree-like bushes are growing. It does not seem to favour eucalypts, but I have seen it amongst flowering acacias. It is a very difficult bird to pick out from a party of Acanthizæ, busy, like itself, in searching the foliage for insect prey. ”

“ Occasionally one may unexpectedly flush an individual in some more or less frequented spot; but as a rule to find these birds one must go to the undisturbed flats and systematically tramp through all the closely-growing vegetation, and, if in luck, an odd bird, or at times even a pair, may be flushed, with a startling suddenness, into a flight of 40 or 50 yards, when they drop into the herbage again just as suddenly as they rose. I have never seen this species fly at a greater height than 8 or 9 feet. ”

“ The black markings on these eggs being small renders them much less conspicuous than the more boldly marked eggs of other allied species. The nest was a very shallow depression, probably scratched out by the parent bird, and had no lining of any kind whatever, the flakes of mud being probably added after the eggs were laid. Surrounding the nest were a few pieces of white quartz and nearly black ironstone. The only vegetation was a sparse growth of stunted samphire, the tallest sprays of which did not exceed 6 inches in height. After packing the eggs, I turned my attention to the female. ”

“ Only on one occasion have I seen a nest in the open, and that was built in the interior of a very dense climbing plant, which I had to break away to obtain the eggs. The eggs are very handsome, varying in ground colour from pure white to light pink, and the markings from deep umber-brown to claret colour. Some eggs are profusely spotted over the entire surface with small spots; these usually have the pink ground colour; others, again, are boldly blotched, often in the form of a zone. The nests are a mass of feathers, fur, down, pieces of string, or any soft material to hand. ”

“ On dissection, my suspicions proved to be correct—she was a fully adult female. Whilst on this subject, let me repeat that the colour of this nuchal band is not lilac, but in these East Murchison birds of a vivid pink, with just a suspicion of silvery-lilac when viewed in certain lights. In the female it is much smaller than in the male, and rather difficult to detect when the bird is in repose. The same is the case with the male, the band in both sexes then appearing as a narrow longitudinal stripe, rather more conspicuous in the male than in the female. ”

“ Another pair probably had a brood in the spinifex, as on my imitating the cry of a bird in distress they actually followed me, the female showing herself so freely that I could easily distinguish her from the male by her rufous flanks and sides of breast. In a series of male skins not much difference in plumage is apparent, but in what I take to be older birds the striations on the throat and breast are more pronounced. The seven eggs I obtained do not vary much in size or shape, but in several of them the markings have a tendency to form a zone. ”

“ In a couple of casuarinas, less than half a mile away, were two nests very much like those of the Tooth-billed Bower-Bird depicted in Mr. Sid. W. Jackson's photographs. They were both built of small, dead twigs, with a lining, if it could be called such, of needles from the casuarina tree. Both had an unoccupied look about them, though otherwise in good preservation. For the size of the bird they appeared small, but there was no other surrounding species to which they could belong. They were altogether too unsubstantial for old nests of Cracticus leucopterus. ”

“ The archway and surroundings were very perfect, and looked newer, and rather less massive, than those at the clay-pan. In addition to the flat flakes of limestone, pieces of bone had been here added to the collection. Old sandal-wood nuts were numerous on the outside of the run, and the green ones were evidently thrown out from the inverted arch when they became discoloured. At the clay-pan I managed by crawling under the big casuarina to photograph the bower, with the male and female perched close at hand, using the camera with the legs unextended. ”

“ Had I been so desirous, or had it been advisable to do so, I could readily have obtained thirty or forty specimens of A. striatus in the spinifex plain near Bore Well. He further states that in the samphires or salt-bush A. textilis may be seen hopping about and singing. A. gigantura has no song—that I am certain of—but Calamanthus campestris does hop amongst the samphires, and sings very musically too. Mr. Keartland's description of the situation of the nest and the markings on the eggs, too, is quite at variance with my experience. ”

“ The young are much less rufous than the adult, being of a dull snuff-colour, with the same markings as the female.
Large-tailed Grass-Wren (Amytornis gigantura, Milligan) .—This was another Lake Austin friend I hoped to meet with at Lake Way. I was not disappointed. It is a most difficult bird to find, especially if the weather be windy or wet and cold. As at Lake Austin, it was strictly confined to the salt-bush near the lake. This family of birds is said to favour rocky or stony places. It may be true of other members, but I never saw the present species in any such country. ”

“ Red-capped Robin (Petrœca goodenovii) .~Ths little gem was the common Robin, or, more properly speaking, Stone-Chat, of the district. It was familiar everywhere; the only place it seemed to avoid was the tract of eucalypts near Milly Pool. It began to breed at the end of July, and nests might have been found up to the middle of October. Though it breeds when a year old, I do not think males assume full nuptial plumage until their second birthday is passed—in some cases perhaps a little later. ”

“ Two handsome clutches had the markings all massed together at the apex, and another egg in a third clutch was quite white. Curiously enough, I shot a specimen of this Acanthiza nearly white, but it showed sufficient of the snuff-coloured upper tail coverts to make identity pretty certain. Compared with A. uropygialis, and other species found in the south-west of this State, I consider A. robustirostris a silent bird. It is especially quiet and wary when the young are hatched. I have often stood by a nest containing young, and waited in vain for the parents to show themselves. ”

“ In the year 1903 I was collecting birds in the vicinity of Lake Austin, a locality in the Murchison district of this State. In my wanderings around that centre I often came in contact with prospectors and others searching for gold in the neighbouring ranges. It is usual in these chance meetings to stop and exchange news, and to indulge in mutual inquiries as to success or otherwise. On my stating my quest was for birds, and not for gold, a kindly interest was often evinced in my work, and any information was always freely given. ”

“ Generally speaking, the country is very level; so much so that the isolated hill called Mount Yagahong is more conspicuous than its actual height seems to warrant. This hill lies some 25 miles slightly north of east of Nannine, and is plainly visible at the latter township. After passing Mount Yagahong the country is less disturbed, and for the most part is thickly covered with scrub, roughly described as mulga, though in reality there is a great variety of bushes and shrubs other than of the true mulga, but none growing into the height of trees. ”

“ In searching for a nest of this species I may state that I examined no less than nine nests of the Emu-Wren (Stipiturus westernensis) —all this season's. It is a curious fact that such a small and feeble-flying species as the Emu-Wren can hold its own when larger species like the Noisy Scrub-Bird (Atrichia clamosa) and the Western Bristle-Bird (Sphenura longirostris) are, in this coastal district, verging upon, if not quite, extinct.
The eggs from this nest were described by Mr. H. L. White in The Emu, January, 1914. They now form part of his fine collection. ”

“ The nest appeared to be completed, but it was not until more than a fortnight later it contained eggs. They were unmistakably those of Pyrrholæmus (Sericornis) brunnea. I met with other pairs of this Acanthiza later on. It was not confined exclusively to the tea-tree scrub around Lake Violet, as I met with a single pair in some fairly thick country near the township of Wiluna, and again I found several pairs near Milly Pool. It is by no means a noisy or fussy bird, like so many of its congeners, but appears to be somewhat of a mimic. ”

“ I even saw them in the streets of Wiluna. In the samphires around Lake Violet they were numerous, and I found a dozen nests without troubling to hunt for them. Some contained three eggs, others only two. The parent birds sat close, and would return to the nest whilst I was near. I more often flushed the male from the nest than the female. Perhaps the latter takes her turn at night. All the nests were low down, but seldom actually on the ground. This species was breeding near Milly Pool, but it was distinctly rare there. ”

“ The male perches near at hand on some conspicuous twig, where he utters his monotonous call, with an occasional erratic flight around. When the female arrives with building material he flutters down to the half-finished nest—I suppose to show his appreciation. ”