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To Bob and various
others,
Dusky Grasswren -- race ballarae
I find I can't quite let this discussion pass
without a small comment.
First for a bit of nostalgia: I remember very
distinctly the occasion of our first sighting of this grasswren. We were
taking some interstate visitors out to one of our favourite spots. They
were desirous of seeing Purple-backed Fairy-wrens, now known as a geographic
variation of the Variegated. The baby I was nursing had just gone to sleep (no
baby capsules then), and as we came to a crest, I saw a couple of wrens on the
flanking rocks. My first thought was that if we stopped now, the baby
would wake, and I was tempted, only momentarily, to say nothing -- after all
there would be other chances -- then immediately realised these were not
fairy-wrens. So we stopped and watched them for about 10 minutes.
Later, we found them in other places, closer to Mount Isa (some very close)
where we were then living. Bill Horton and Sam Carruthers found a
nest and eventually wrote a paper on their findings of the birds in this
group.
This brings me to their distribution/name
question.
The Kalkadoon people occupied the whole stretch of ranges in
this north-western area of Qld -- from around Boulia in the south up to about
the Macarthur River in the north (say, past Lawn Hill if you want a
better known name). This takes in the Carpentarean Grasswren habitat as
well.
While on the name Kalkadoon, I might mention that it is
anything but a romantic name. The Kalkadoons were a fierce, warlike people
who dominated the surrounding tribes -- perhaps it was the rugged nature of
their domain that contributed to their aggressive nature. When European
settlers moved in, they waged a very successful guerilla type of warfare for
some time and in the end, fought a full scale battle against the invaders (I
think they were the only ones to do this). Unfortunately, this ended in a
pitched battle where they made the mistake of leaving their traditional cover
and raced down the hill into, of course, the superior fire power of their
opponents. If there is ever a species of falcon, akin to the
Peregrine, discovered, Kalkadoon would be a good name for it.
On the distribution count, even Selwyn is a bit off-centre for
the grasswren, but certainly better than Kalkadoon; and personally, I see
nothing wrong with remaining with the name of the locality where it was first
seen -- it's a pleasant word, moreover. Ballara was the name of a small
town -- no longer there.
I don't know if it is likely to be made into a separate
species, but I have to say that when we eventually saw Amytornis
purnelli at Alice Springs, we felt it was a different bird -- not only in
size and colour, but also in its habits; the terrains may have been similar in
that both were rocky, but the birds' handling of their terrain and of their
bodies were very different.
I agree it's always best to use a plumage or
anatomical, distinguishing feature for a species name, but this is difficult
when the difference from other species is not easily noticeable ( I don't remember any pale bum!). This happens with many other
birds too.
Helen Horton
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Helen Horton
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