The black grasswren (''Amytornis housei''), known as dalal to the

Wunambal The Wunambal (Unambal), also known as Wunambal Gaambera, Uunguu (referring to their lands), and other names, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the northern Kimberley region of Western Australia. People The Wunambal were, according to Norma ...

people, is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

in the family

Maluridae The Australasian wrens are a family (biology), family, Maluridae, of small, insectivorous passerine birds endemic to Australia and New Guinea. While commonly known as wrens, they are unrelated to the wren, true wrens. The family comprises 32 spec ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. Naturalist Frederick Maurice House discovered the black grasswren in 1901, as a part of a surveying party led by

Frederick Slade Drake-Brockman Frederick Slade Drake-Brockman, also known as Frederick Slade Brockman, (9 July 1857 – 11 September 1917) was a Surveyor General and explorer of Western Australia. Early life Born at Seabrook near Northam in Western Australia, he was the son ...

through the Kimberley in northwestern Australia. He collected a single specimen.

Alexander William Milligan Alexander William Milligan (1858 – 30 March 1921) was an Australian accountant, legal clerk, zoological collector and ornithologist. Milligan was born at Sulky Gully, near Ballarat in Victoria. He was educated at Guildford, Victoria. In ...

, consulting ornithologist at the

Western Australian Museum The Western Australian Museum is a statutory authority within the Culture and the Arts Portfolio, established under the ''Museum Act 1969''. The museum has six main sites. The state museum, now known as WA Museum Boola Bardip, officially re-ope ...

, named it after House when he described the species. The bird was not seen again until 1968, when Dan Freeman of the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...

led a party to the same area to find it. Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

is Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation and open woodland, punctuated by large sandstone

boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In c ...

s and slabs. It inhabits the Mitchell River National Park in the Kimberley region of north-west WA. It has been classified as least concern.

Bushfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identif ...

s have become more frequent, as has rainfall, which has altered the landscape. Black grasswrens are not highly mobile and have possibly become locally extinct around Manning Creek due to fire before 2007. The black grasswren is seldom seen – even when most people visit (in the cooler months), it hides in cracks and fissures in

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

. Its eggs and nest were only discovered in 1998, the lack of knowledge owing to the fact that the region is largely inaccessible during the summer wet season. It is present in the Charnley River–Artesian Range Wildlife Sanctuary in the Kimberley region of WA. The nest is an oval structure of dried grass stems and leaves in tussocks of soft spinifex (''

Triodia pungens ''Triodia pungens'', commonly known as soft spinifex, is a species of grass native to northwestern Australia. The plant is currently being researched due to its resinous properties as a Termite timber coating. Other research and applications are ...

''). It has an entrance in a small spout, with a landing in front of it. The female incubates the clutch, which generally consists of two eggs. The eggs are white with sparse dark markings and measure 21–22.2 mm long by 15.6–16.7 mm wide.

References

External links

Photos and information at Graeme Chapman
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1318191

black grasswren The black grasswren (''Amytornis housei''), known as dalal to the Wunambal people, is a species of bird in the family Maluridae. It is endemic to Western Australia. Naturalist Frederick Maurice House discovered the black grasswren in 1901, as ...

Endemic birds of Western Australia Kimberley (Western Australia)

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Kimberley tropical savanna