150 RICHARDS - l Watcher

White-headed Stilt, Himantopus himantopus. Over 100 scat­ tered in several areas at Price. Banded Stilt, Cladorhynchus leucocephalus. At least 2,000 at Price. Very few were unbanded immatures. White-winged Black Tern, Chlidonias leucoptera. Three at Price, two in partial breeding plumage and one in non-breeding plumage. One or two in partial breeding plumage had the whole under wing completely black and large patches of black on the body and head. The other had some dark patches on the body and under wing. Fairy Tern, Sterna nereis. Many at Price in both breeding and immature plumage. Little Tern, Sterna albifrons. Ten at Price in breeding plumage. These were studied closely for some time for this is the westernmost record for southern Australia to date. It is felt that the value of the saltfields at Price as a Wader observation area is yet to be fully realised . Its potential is con­ siderable and access and facilities to observe from the car window are excellent. Having spent a day there Smith made the comment that "Price Saltworks may be the southern counterpart of the Cairns waterfront. It offers unexcelled field study opportunities to the Wader enthusiast and ornithologists generally".

The Nesting of the By BERYL RICHARDS, Mitcham, Victoria The Spotted Pardalote, Pardalotus punctatus, occurs in eucalypt forest and open woodland throughout eastern A ustralia, from southern Queensland to south-eastern South Australia, and in the south-west of Western A ustralia, also in Tasmania. Throughout this range it is quite common, but because of the small size and habit of feeding high in the outer foliage, observation is extremely difficult. However, at the nest observation becomes easy, as the nesting site is usually in a bank; in the earth clinging to the roots of some uprooted tree, or even in the ground itself. Plumage differences between the male and female enables the observer to easily ascertain the activities of each bird. At the Blackburn Lake Reserve, Blackburn, Victoria, on July 27, 1970, a male Spotted Pardalote was seen perched low in a Blackwood Wattle, Acacia mearnsii. This little gem of the tree­ tops remained on its perch for about 20 seconds calling softly, and slowly turning left or right. Early on the afternoon of September 7, once more I saw a male Spotted Pardalote perched in the same wattle, and again it seemed reluctant to leave. F rom a distance of some 30 feet I waited to see if the bird would return. Approximately 25 minutes later the Pardalote alighted in the wattle, stayed a few seconds, then disappeared at the base of a eucalypt seedling growing alongside June Nesting of Spotted Pardalote 151 1972 ] the path. Examination revealed a partially excavated tunnel already nine inches long. At approximately half-hourly intervals the male returned to the wattle, flew to the tunnel, remained two or three minutes then flew off. It was not until 4 p.m. that the female made a brief visit to the area. As this appeared to be a good opportunity to study the various phases of the nesting activities of this species, I made regular visits to the nest-site between September 7 and December 22, 1970, a period of almost 16 weeks. Observations were made usually every second day until the last eleven days, on each of which I made at least one visit. The time spent on each occasion varied between one and four hours. The nest-site was situated in the side of a low bank about 3 feet from a much used path at the eastern end of the Reserve, and approxi­ mately 50 feet from the edge of the water. The tunnel was being excavated at the base of the seedling eucalypt, which was sur­ rounded by rapidly growing grass. Excavation, which was carried out by both birds, continued until September 17, with the majority of the work being performed by the male. The pace of activity was leisurely. some days. espec­ ially when cold and squally. the birds would not be sighted. and at other times they would perch in the Blackwood Wattle some 16 feet from the nest-site, but make no attempt to approach the tunnel. Invariably, more work was performed in the morning than the afternoon. Both birds approached the nest area from an easterly direction, where there is a large stand of eucalypts of various species, some 100 yards away. When the birds arrived at the site they would perch in the wattle, then on mo~t occasions fly to a small offshoot of the eucalypt, hesitate momentarily and then enter the tunnel. On rare occasions the male would by-pass the wattle and fly to the end of a fallen branch. only 5 feet from where I was in the habit of sitting. A stick similar in size to the regularly used offshoot was inadvertently placed some 2 feet from the tunnel entrance, in a direct line with the perch in the wattle. The male on his next visit landed on the stick but appeared to be completely nonplussed. He investigated three other small holes in the immediate vicinity before locating his tunnel. On all subsequent visits the stick was by-passed. During the excavation period as a bird entered the tunnel, it was seen to kick out loose earth with its feet, eventually creating a small mound at the entrance. On most occasions when leaving the nest tunnel the birds flew to their perch in the wattle, where they wiped their beaks on the branch. and then flew off in an easterly direction. The female was seen once to be pecking at her feet, apparently cleaning them. A typical example of the movements of the birds during the excavation period occurred on September 11. Between 11 a.m. and 12.10 p.m. the male entered the tunnel six times and the !52 RICHARDS [ Bird Watcher

female four times. Each bird remained m the nesting hole from two to six minutes. On September 19, when the tunnel was 14 inches long, nest lining had begun and continued until October 8, a period of 20 days. Nesting material was obtained from two trees, each approxi­ mately 60 feet from the nest, one a Long-leaf Box, ROniocalyx, and the other a Silver-leaf Stringybark, E. cephalocarpa. This material was inner bark fibres taken from areas where the outer bark had been rubbed away, possibly through abrasion. Although the female made frequent visits to the nest, she was seen to carry in nesting material only on six occasions. The male appeared to do most of the gathering of the material, and the female actually placed it in position or, at least, supervised its placement. During the period October 9 to 14, the birds were frequently heard calling, but only once was a bird, the male, sighted in the vicinity of the nest. On October 15 incubation had begun. the duties being shared more or less equally by both birds. Neither bird was seen to remain in the nest for a period exceeding 30 minutes. The birds changed over both inside and outside the nest, and at times both birds remained together in the nest for as long as five minutes. T he nest would be left unattended for periods up to 15 minutes. On October 22 the nest had been completely destroyed by what appeared to be human agency. The eggs were gone and there was no sign of the birds. Several visits were paid to the area during the next few days. but it was not until October 30 that I discovered a new nest, which was situated 125 feet from the original one. This nest was located in a bank some 3 feet below a Jess fre­ quently used path. amongst an accumulation of ground litter, 20 feet from the water's edge. Whereas the first nest entrance was in a situation open to the sky. this one was sheltered by Weeping Willows, Salix baby!onica, that were growing on the edge of the water. It appeared that this was the same pair of Pardalotes that had been under constant observation for the past seven weeks. The following are my reasons for making this assumption. It is gener­ ally accepted that these birds are territorial during the nesting season and, as the new site was only 125 feet from the old one, it could be considered well within the territory. The birds always arrived at the nest area from an easterly direction and departed in the direction from which they had come; exactly as had been the case previously. They gathered inner bark from the same two trees in spite of the fact that there were other similar trees in the area. As at the previous nest, the male was fearless of my presence, while the female always showed considerable caution. Familiarity with their call s still enabled me to distinguish male from female without seeing the birds. During the observations at the first nest there was no ind ication of any other nesting birds in the area.

154 RICHARDS [ Bird Watcher

On only one occasion from the start to the finish of my obser­ vations did I see another pardalote in the area; that bird, a male, paid a brief visit when both of the other birds were together in the first nest. On the day of finding the new nest, the birds were already carry­ ing in lining material and this continued until November 6. During the lining of the first nest, the birds appeared to adopt a casual attitude, but now there seemed to be a note of urgency, both birds were gathering bark and making more frequent trips to the nest. From November 7 to 11 the birds were hardly sighted, but on the 12th incubation had begun. This followed the same general pattern as previously and continued until November 26, a period of 15 days. On the morning of the 27th both birds were extremely active and appeared very excited, and they were entering the nest alter­ natively at intervals varying from two to fifteen minutes. Neither bird remained in the nest for any length of time. Although it appeared that the young were hatching, I was unable to detect any food being taken into the nest. The next day I could clearly see food in the adult bird's bills. The majority of food brought to the young consisted of a white wax-like substance, that has been identified from photographs taken at the nest as lerp scale. In addition various small insects were also given. From December 8 to 15 a regular pattern of feeding was in evidence. Between 10.05 a.m. and 11.20 a.m. both the male and female each made five visits to the nest with food, an average of 7! minutes between each visit. The arrivals were not always made alternatively. December 16. Although still feeding, visits are not nearly so frequent. At one stage the male bird only made two visits in 45 minutes and the female sat perched in the overhanging willows with food in her beak for 20 minutes, and then flew off without entering the nest. December 18. Feeding again in the regular pattern of the 8th. December 19. Bet\Yeen 11.20 a.m. and 12.25 p.m. the female made five visits to the nest with food. There was no sign of the male, neither could a bird be heard calling in the usual area. A further visit later in the afternoon again failed to reveal the pre­ sence of the male. December 20. Feeding by both birds continued regularly for an hour, then once more the female perched in the willows with food in her beak, this time for 15 minutes before finally entering the nest. On December 21, at 11.45 a.m. one of the young birds had left the nest and was perched at a height of approximately 20 feet in the willows. The bird was calling feebly. It was duller in colour­ ation than the female, the spots were indistinct and there was bright yellow about the gape. There were still young birds in the nest and, from the clamour heard, there were at least another June Nesting of Spotted Pardalote 155 1972 ]

two birds being fed by the parents. Unfortunately, I was unable to remain at the nest for the rest of the day. Next morning the nest was deserted but a family party of at least five Spotted Pardalotes was busily feeding very high in the tree-tops, 100 yards to the east of the nesting site. This would indicate that the fledging period is 25 days. Examination of the nest structure revealed a tunnel 1} to 2 inches in diameter, and 14 inches long, rising slightly to a spherical chamber approximately 5 inches in diameter. Apart from the open­ ing to the tunnel this chamber was completely lined, to a thickness of 1 inch, with fine strips of inner bark. No other material was used . The bark was packed tightly but not interwoven; when removed from the cavity it tended to collapse. After the young had hatched both birds were in the habit of fl ying directly from the nest to the feeding area. They left at such a speed that it was only on one occasion that I saw the female take a faecal sac away. This must have been done regularly, however, as when examined the nest was extremely clean. The birds were never seen to feed in the vicinity of the nest, even though the area contained many trees, neither was food for the nestlings gathered in the area. All feeding took place in the stand of eucalypts 100 yards to the east of the nest area. The vocabulary consisted of three distinct calls. The call that is generally expressed as " Sleep babee" was given only when the birds were in their feeding area, never in the vicinity of the nest. This call appears to be uttered by both birds as it was heard on occasions when I had either the male or female under observation at the nest site. Basically the second call consisted of two syllables, the second syllable being slightly higher in pitch, and sounded like " Pe he". There were three variations, namely "Pe", " Pe he he", and "Pe he he he". This second call was heard from the feeding area, when the birds were approaching the nest and in its immediate vicinity. The call when rendered by the female was lower in pitch than that of the male. It became possible to distinguish which bird was approaching the nest from the call alone. The remaining call, which was a rapid series of "Zits" similar to the fast ticking of a watch, was given by both birds, but only when they were at the entrance to or within the nest tunnel. Once incubation had begun this call was no longer heard. Trying to establish a pattern to the calls proved fruitless. On different days when the birds were engaged in similar activities, there was a great difference in the amount of calling heard. Some days the various calls were heard almost continuously, while on others the birds were practically silent. On two of my earliest visits the male when perched on the eucalypt offshoot at the entrance to the tunnel, gave what appeared to be a form of display by slightly opening, drooping and quiver­ ing the wings. The tail was slightly cocked. A photograph that was taken shows the wings in the drooped position. 156 CHISHOLM [ Bird Watcher

These observations show that nesting actJVItles of the Spotted Pardalote are very protracted and that there is a considerable difference in the length of time of any particular nesting. If the first nest had been successful the time taken would have been well in excess of eleven weeks, whereas the second nesting took only 60 days.

Tool-Using by Birds: a Commentary By A. H. CHISHOLM, Sydney. It is most impressive, not to say wholly surprising, to learn that the Eastern Shrike-tit, Falcunculus frontatus, has been seen to use a tool when seeking food, and to do so in a manner hitherto sup­ posed to be the peculiar talent of certain distinctive finches in the Galapagos Islands. The note on this subject by Beryl Richards in the Australian Bird Watcher, 4; 97-98, makes clear that a Shrike-tit was seen to examine a spot in a dead acacia and then, after looking upward, fly vertically some 24 inches to a branchlet and nip off a thin twig about 2 inches long, after which it returned to the original spot and inserted the twig into a crevice, twice, with a sideways movement of the head. In a following action the twig was dropped and the bi rd extracted some object, which it ate. All this appears to have been seen under ideal conditions, and the observation indicated that the bird 's actions were so assured as to suggest that they had been practised previously. Mrs. Richards quotes from the British Ornithologists' U nion's New Dictionary of Birds (1964. p.827) the case of Camarhynchus pallidus, a Galapagos finch which uses a twig or spine as a probe for the extracting of insects, and also from my Bird Wonders of Australia (5th edn, 1958) with regard to the breaking of Emus' eggs with stones by Hamirostra melanosterna, the Black-breasted Buzzard. But, of course, the subject goes much further than those references. T he brief article on avian tool-using in the N ew Dictionary of Birds is, in fact, both inadequate and misleading. It says nothing at all regarding the breaking of eggs by the Buzzard. although this was reported long ago by John Gould, by several later writers in Australian publications, and in an article of mine in the British O rnithologists' Union's own journal, the Ibis, in 1954. Nor does it refer to the smashing of Ostrich eggs with stones as practised by the Egyptian Vulture. which was first recorded by J . G. Wood (in Bible ) as early as 1877. Curiously, too. the Dictionary note gives the impression that the claim for tool-using by the relates to the use of paint. whereas it concerns only the use of a wad of fibrous mater­ ial held in the beak-tip, and probably serving the office of a cork, during the applying of the paint. Moreover, the writer of that mis-