1890. `Victorian Statutes-Game Act, Third Schedule':
[Close Season.] "Mallee-hen, from 1st day of August to the 20th day of December next following in each year."
1895. `The Australasian,' Oct.5, p. 652, col. 1:
". . . the economy of the lowan or mallee-hen. . . . It does not incubate its eggs after the manner of other birds, but deposits them in a large mound of sand . . . Shy and timid. Inhabits dry and scrubs. In shape and size resembles a greyish mottled domestic turkey, but is smaller, more compact and stouter in the legs."
<hw>Mallee-scrub</hw>, <i>n</i>. the "scrub," or thicket, formed by the <i>Mallee</i> (q.v.).
1893. A. R. Wallace, `Australasia,' vol. i. p. 22:
"The flat and, rarely, hilly plains . . . are covered chiefly with thickets and `scrub' of social plants, generally with hard and prickly leaves. This `scrub,' which is quite a feature of the Australian interior, is chiefly formed of a bushy Eucalyptus, which grows somewhat like our osiers to a height of 8 or 10 feet, and often so densely covers the ground as to be quite impenetrable. This is the `Mallee scrub' of the explorers; while the still more dreaded `Mulga scrub' consists of species of prickly acacia, which tear the clothes and wound the flesh of the traveller."
<hw>Malurus</hw>, <i>n</i>. the scientific name for a genus of Australian warblers. Name reduced from <i>Malacurus</i>, from the Grk. <i>malakos</i>, soft, and <i>'oura</i>, a tail. The type-species is <i>Malurus cyaneus</i> of Australia, the <i>Superb Warbler</i> or <i>Blue-Wren</i>. See <i>Superb Warbler</i>, <i>Wren</i>, and <i>Emu-Wren</i>. All the <i>Maluri</i>, of which there are fifteen or sixteen species, are popularly known as Superb Warblers, but are more correctly called Wrens.
1896. F. G. Aflalo, `Natural History of Australia,' p. 136:
"The <i>Wrens</i> and <i>Warblers</i>—chiefly <i>Maluri</i>, with the allied <i>Amytis</i> and <i>Stipiturus</i>—are purely Australian. They are feeble on the wing but swift of foot."