Nest
Domed, with a side-entrance, untidy, composed of moss, dry grass and leaves, lined with feathers, placed near the ground in dense vegetation.
Eggs (Guide)
3 - 4; light chocolate to purplish-brown, faintly speckled and shaded dark at the larger end; oval; about 23 x 16 mm. Incubation: more than 8 days; apparently by female.
Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in more than 10 days. Probably fed by both parents.
Subspecies
Forms a superspecies with Rufous Fieldwren (Calamanthus campestris) and Western Fieldwren (Calamanthus montanellus) and all have often been treated as conspecific. Further study is required in order fully to resolve relationships within the genus.
albiloris North, 1902 - Coastal south-eastern mainland Australia from the Illawarra Region of New South Wales, south and west to the central Bassian Plain of Vic.
bourneorum Schodde & Mason, IJ, 1999 - Western Bassian Plain, Vic and south-eastern SA.
Similar Species
Rufous Fieldwren (Calamanthus campestris) which has rufous upperparts and is less heavily streaked on both the upper and under parts and Chestnut-rumped Heathwren (Calamanthus pyrrhopygius) which is unstreaked grey-brown above, has a pale eyebrow and a chestnut rump.
Compare Images
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
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BirdLife International Species Factsheet