te ar ee tt ean So ew nen eptn vm ynren ae nem aaa a : : ae as BE Re Bs Pe as Cty ge le By Mee pp al 5 hs Pk he 2 ate ths ole, Be 910 Me he Be Ae Me ee. she, Ifa a 3 G Zz F| B i aoe ae > F< =e OD, Es ss SS cae) GI | | | | INDEX TO SUPPLEMENT. Semioptera Wallacei Shoveller, Variegated Sittella striata Striated Spatula variegata Sphecotheres flaviventris Yellow-bellied Sphenura Broadbenti Standard-wing Strigops habroptilus Strix candida . longimembris Walleri : Sun-bird, Australian Tanysiptera Sylvia White-tailed Tern, Great-footed Thrush, Ash-headed . Chestnut-breasted Ground- Sooty . Totanus Bartramia Bartramius campestris melanopygius Page - 103 - 155 Totanus variegatus Tringa Bartramia longicauda : Tringoides Bartramius . Tropidorhynchus buceroides Turdus fuliginosus poliocephalus Warbler, Fawn-breasted Superb Turquoisine Superb White-backed Superb Wekau . rege ee Wood-Swallow, Black-faced Wren, Crowned Lovely Zosterops albogularis Grey-breasted lateralis Robust Slender-billed strenuus . tenuirostris . tephropleurus White-breasted SOR Strix candida, 7ickell Sceloglaux albifacies Podargus Papuensis, Quoy § Gaim. . ———marmoratus, Gould . Halcyon flavirostris, Gould Tanysiptera Sylvia, Gould Artamus melanops, Gould Pardalotus xanthopygius, M‘Coy Manucodia Keraudreni Arses Kaupi, Gould Macherirhynchus flaviventer, Gould Monarcha leucotis, Gould albiventris, Gould Gerygone personata, Gould Petroica? cerviniventris, Gould Drymodes superciliaris, Gould . Eopsaltria capito, Gould . leucura, Gould Menura Alberti, Gould Malurus coronatus, Gould ——— amabilis, Gould ——— hypoleucus, Gould callainus, Gould leuconotus, Gould Sphenura Broadbenti, M/‘Coy Atrichia rufescens, Ramsay Pycnoptilus floccosus, Gould Acanthiza magna, Gould Pitta Mackloti, Miill. § Schleg. Merula poliocephala vinitincta, Gould Cinclosoma castaneothorax, Gould Aplonis metallica. : ; Ptilonorhynchus Rawnsleyi, Diggles . Chlamydera guttata, Gould ——— cerviniventris, Gould Sphecotheres flaviventris, Gould Pomatorhinus ruficeps, Haril. Ptilotis cassidix, Jard. fasciogularis, Gould notata, Gould ———= iiheem, Goal) Cockerelli, Gould Tropidorhynchus Buceroides Nectarinia australis, Gould Zosterops albogularis, Gould — tenuirostris, Gould — strenuus, Gould — tephropleurus, Gould Ptiloris Victorie, Gould magnifica PLATES. SUPPLEMENT. Grass-Owl Wekau : Papuan Podargus Marbled Podargus . Yellow-billed Kingfisher White-tailed Tanysiptera Black-faced Wood-Swallow Yellow-rumped Pardalote Keraudren’s Crow-Shrike Kaup’s Flycatcher Yellow-breasted Flycatcher White-eared Flycatcher White-bellied Flycatcher Masked Gerygone Buff-sided Robin Eastern Scrub-Robin Large-headed Robin White-tailed Robin Albert Lyre-Bird Crowned Wren Lovely Wren ; : Fawn-breasted Superb Warbler Turquoisine Superb Warbler White-backed Superb Warbler Rufous-headed Bristle-Bird Rufescent Scrub-Bird Downy Pycnoptilus Great Acanthiza Macklot’s Pitta ; Grey-headed Blackbird Vinous-tinted Blackbird Chestnut-breasted Ground-Thrush Shining Aplonis Rawnsley’s Bower-bird Guttated Bower-bird Fawn-breasted Bower-bird Yellow-bellied Sphecotheres Chestnut-crowned Pomatorhinus Helmeted Honey-eater Fasciated Honey-eater Yellow-spotted Honey-eater Streaked Honey-eater Cockerell’s Honey-eater Helmeted Honey-eater Australian Sun-bird White-breasted Zosterops Slender-billed Zosterops . Robust Zosterops . : Grey-breasted Zosterops Victoria Rifle-bird . Magnificent Rifle-bird oe Ww 16 1 18 19 20 WH CE WOW WH HS HS © WH Ww jw KF oO OnN Dok WwW WH & Owwww ii w& oOnrIr nr o f & bb 39 Semioptera Wallacei, G. R. Gray Standard- Wing Orthonyx Spaldingi, Ramsay Spalding’s Orthonyx 53 Sittella striata, Gould : : Striated Sittella 54 Cacomantis castaneiventris, Gould Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo 55 Chrysococcyx minutillus, Gould Little Cuckoo . 56 Strigops habroptilus, G. R. Gray Kakapo 57 Nestor hypopolius Ka-ka Parrot . : 58 Esslingii, Souancé Prince of Essling’s Parrot 59 — notabilis, Gould Kea Parrot 60 Microglossus aterrimus Great Palm-Cockatoo 61 Polytelis Alexandre, Gould The Princess of Wales’s Parrakeet 62 Platycercus cyanogenys, Gould Blue-cheeked Parrakeet 63 Psephotus chrysopterygius, Gould Golden-backed Parrakeet 64 Cyclopsitta Coxeni, Gould Coxen’s Parrakeet 65 Geopsittacus occidentalis, Gould Nocturnal Ground-Parrakeet 66 Carpophaga assimilis, Gould Allied Fruit-Pigeon 67 Lophophaps ferruginea, Gould Rust-coloured Bronzewing 68 = leneogasion, Gouk White-bellied Bronzewing : : oo Casuarius australis, Wall. Australian Cassowary (two heads, natural size) ; : ; ; 70 I ot en GL OLE mone) 71 ——— Bennetti, Gould Bennett’s Cassowary (two heads, nat. size) 72 3 ee (OE tavUE)). 73 ————- uniappendiculatus, Blyth One-carunculated Cassowary (head and feet, nat. size) eA a (whole fig.). 75 Notornix Mantelli, Owen Notornis : : > AE Actiturus Bartramius Bartram’s Sandpiper 77 Rallina tricolor, G. R. Gray Red-necked Rail 78 Gallinula ruficrissa, Gould Rufous-vented Gallinule 79 Spatula variegata, Gould . Variegated Shoveller 80 Gelochelidon macrotarsa, Gould Great-footed Tern 81 SS ee ae ee =a cei Se tO SS =%++ = ee —S—-— i ——_—_- Ol SUA Se ~~ o SS sw @®)> F&F ef. FS 2." co COR ta) a eee ae a, — — ae pet ee le —_— — = os &s Ss CS ee oS) Ome eee, SS Se seo ee SS egg Bs y; | : / | 8 ~ SS > ~ mr ~] RS Uke J Gould cH Richter, de: et lith fy STRIX CANDIDA, Tickeiz. Grass-Owl. Stria candida, Tickell, in Journ. Asiat. Soc. Beng g., vol. il. p. 572.—Jerd. Ill. Ind. Orn., pl. xxx.—Id. Birds of India, vol. i. p. 118. —— longimembris, Jerd. in Madras Journ. of Lit. and Sci., vol. x. p. 86. Scelostrix candida, Blyth in Ibis, 1866, p. 251. Striz Walleri, Diggles, Orn. of Aust., part 7. pl. 1. I am indebted to Mr. Waller, of Brisbane, for the loan of a specimen of this fine Owl, which has lately been added to the list of the Queensland fauna; and I very much regret that the specific name of Walleri, assigned to it by Mr. Diggles, cannot be retained, but must sink into the rank of a synonym, the bird having long previously been described by Tickell as Strix candida, and by Jerdon as Strix longimembris. I make this affirmation after a careful comparison of two fine Indian examples with the specimen sent by Mr. Waller from Queensland, through Charles Coxen, Esq., in the course of which I found no sufficient difference to warrant my regarding them as distinct. In size, markings, and, indeed, in every particular the Indian and Australian examples are closely alike. When we remember that the bird is strictly a grass-frequenter, and that the grassy plains of India and Australia are of a very similar character, we need not feel surprised at its being found in both countries, although they are so wide apart. It is now clearly established that the White Herons or Egrets, and many of the Plovers and Sandpipers, of the two countries are specifically identical; and their avifaunas may be regarded as still more closely united by the discovery that this fine Owl ranges from the base of the Himalayas (through, perhaps, the intervening countries of Java and the Philippines, as suggested to me by Mr. Blyth) to Australia. As I have no information of my own to offer respecting this bird, I take the liberty of transcribing Mr. Diggles’s account of it from bis work above quoted, which comprises all that is known of it in Australia. “Tt does not often happen in a country so well searched since the visit of Mr. Gould in the years 1838, 1839, 1840, that so important and interesting a bird is brought to light; and the fact of its having been shot in the immediate neighbourhood of Brisbane may serve to encourage others interested in the study of ornithology, more especially in the newly settled districts where novelties are mostly to be looked for, to endeavour to add to our knowledge of the fauna of their adopted country. ‘The habits of this bird doubtless assimilate in every important respect to those of the other members of the family. Its nearest ally is Strzv delcatula, a much smaller species, which, like the present, has the tarsi naked for about half their length, the remainder of the Australian Owls yet known being feathered to the toes.” The following is Mr. Diggles’s description of this bird, which, as it was probably taken from a recent spe- cimen, I give in preference to one of my own :— «Crown, back, and upper tail-coverts blackish brown, intermingled with tawny buff, each feather with a small white spot at the tip; facial disk buffy white, with a patch of blackish brown in front of the eye ; fringe around the disk bright buff, the shaft of each feather marked with black; wings blackish brown, in- termingled with bright tawny of a deeper tint than that of the back, and with a spot of white at the tip of each feather; from the shoulder to the body a broad space of bright tawny buff, speckled with numerous small black spots ; primaries and secondaries bright tawny buff, tipped for a considerable portion of their length with brownish ; the larger portion of their inner webs pure white, the former are barred with four, and the latter with three bands of blackish brown ; scapularies blackish brown, with a spot of white at the tip of each feather; central tail-feathers beautiful bright buff, with four black bands; the nearest of the lateral feathers partake of the same colour; but the outer ones are much paler, being nearly white, and the bands almost obsolete ; sides of the neck, chest, and upper portion of the abdomen buff, becoming gradually paler towards the tail; the whole of the undersurface marked with small brown spots near the tip of each feather; thighs buff externally, and white internally; underside of the wings white, slightly mixed with buff, and marked with arrowhead-shaped spots of blackish brown ; undersurface of the quills white, banded and tipped with dark brown; tarsi long, rather slender, and feathered for about half their length, the re- maining portion being clothed with short hairs; legs and feet yellowish flesh-colour; bill flesh-colour ; irides dark brown. «The female is not so bright in colour, but in other respects is very similar to the male. The figure is of the natural size. FatOmendel k Nalton /nip Nidiicr, Wel c# Pith ACK, J Nat Lbvold wp SCOTS, Wb Need aS : we 3 4 oD. 2 WO} Ky ony PHAN Ui pT TAT Itt SCELOGLAUX ALBIFACIES. Wekau. Athene albifacies, G. R. Gray, Voy. of Ereb. and Terr. Birds, p. 2.—Ib. List of Birds in Coll. Brit. Mus., part i. 2nd edit. p. 90. Sceloglaux albifacies, Kaup.—G. R. Gray, Cat. of Gen. and Subgen. of Birds in Brit. Mus., p. 8. No. 110. Tue bird here figured is another of the strange inhabitants of our antipodal country New Zealand. An owl it unquestionably is, but how widely does it differ from every other member of its family! Its prominent bill, swollen nostrils, and small head are characters as much accipitrine as strigine; its short and feeble wings indicate that its powers of flight are but limited, while its lengthened legs and abbreviated toes would appear to have been given to afford it a compensating increase of progression over the ground. On what does this bird live? There are no indigenous small quadrupeds in the country upon which we might infer, from its structure and what we know of the economy of other terrestrial Owls (such as the Burrowing Owl of North America, Swrnia cunicularia), it would feed. Does it partially feed on the larvee of such Lepidoptera as Hepialus virescens, so subject to the attack of that singular fungus the Spheria Robertsi? It would indeed be interesting to ascertain how it maintains existence. Of this very rare and singular bird only two examples are known to me: of these, one is in the British Museum, the other in the collection of J. H. Gurney, Esq., of Norwich, a gentleman much attached to Ornithology, as his liberal donations to the Norwich Museum abundantly testify. Both these specimens were collected on the middle and south islands of New Zealand: that in the British Museum is the original of Mr. G. R. Gray’s Athene albifacies and the type of Dr. Kaup’s genus Sceloglaue. The present is the first time the bird has been figured, and as its appearance in this work may be the means of making it more generally known, I trust that the attention of travellers will be directed to the species, and that ere long we may be furnished with some account of its habits and economy, of which, at present, nothing is known. Mr. Percy Earl, who obtained the specimen in the British Museum at Waikonaiti, in the south island of New Zealand, states that it is known to the natives by the name of Wekau. Plumage of the upper surface chocolate-brown, each feather margined with fulvous ; some of the sca- pularies with a lengthened mark of dull white within the margin and others on the edge ; primaries spotted along the outer margin with buffy white ; secondaries and tertiaries crossed by indistinct or interrupted bars of buffy white, assuming on those near the body the form of spots; spurious wing very dark brown; tail brown, crossed by five narrow irregular bars of buffy white and tipped with fulvous ; fascial disk pale sandy- brown, except on the forehead, throat and ear-coverts, which are whitish, each feather with a streak of brownish-black down the centre; feathers of the under surface deep fulvous, with a broad mark of dark brown down the centre of each, the former tint increasing on the lower part of the abdomen and thighs, when it again gradually fades into dull white on the lower part of the tarsi; toes sickly-green, thinly beset with hair-like feathers; cere much developed and of a lead colour; bill bluish horn-colour at the base, passing into yellowish horn-colour at the tip, the under mandible yellow. The figure is of the natural size. SS ee a ar ae (ey ETT Fe eee RY a TET 2 er 4 rs i Ly 3 at 3 \ a H 5 i i ; 5 i iu 3] ’ SSS ee See Se ae gS PR —s -2 SSS es ae ee cnn ae ek ee a et a es SS. SS we, [inp b Wolbs {? Cl Uitdsin Q a ) S i ) Kuoy XY \ es iy a ama R > ee ~f 7 Z C "ODA \ — mS 5 4 Oh 2 3 Sy} ont (NNN TA TOT Ni yy PODARGUS PAPUENSIS, Quoy et Gaim. Papuan Podargus. Podargus Papuensis, Quoy et Gaim. Voy. de l’Astrol., Ois. t. 13.—Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 45, Podargus, sp. 9.—Bonap. Consp. Gen. Ay., p. 57, Podargus, sp. 6. THE great country of Australia is certainly the head-quarters of the larger members of the Caprimulgide, constituting the genus Podargus, of which the present species may be considered a typical example. Of this fine bird several specimens were procured during the late voyage of Her Majesty’s Ship Rattlesnake, under the command of Captain Owen Stanley, with Mr. MacGillivray as Naturalist, whose names will ever hold a prominent place in the annals of science for their discoveries in various branches of natural history. All the specimens were obtained at Cape York, the contiguity of which to New Guinea induced me to believe the bird to be identical with the one described and figured by MM. Quoy and Gaimard in the Voyage of the Astrolabe under the name of Podargus Papuensis; but on comparing the Australian bird with their plate, I had some doubts on the subject; I therefore conveyed the specimen to Paris and Leyden, for the purpose of instituting a comparison between it and the original New Guinea examples from which MM. Quoy and Gaimard took their figure and description ; and from the following note made at the time, it will be seen that I came to the conclusion that they are identical. I think it necessary to mention this, because my Plate and that in the Voyage of the Astrolabe will not be found to agree: every care has been taken to render mine as correct a representation of the bird as possible: any comment on that in the French work is unnecessary. “The Podargus from Cape York is too near to P. Papuensis to rank as a distinct species. The two specimens in the Leyden Museum differ very considerably in colour; one being freckled with fine markings of brown and buff, like the common Podargus of Australia, the other covered with large blotches of greyish- white and conspicuous markings of brown and black from the crown of the head to the end of the tail-feathers; the breast too of the larger specimen is conspicuously blotched with white, while that of the smaller one is finely freckled with grey, brown and black; the thighs of both are darkish brown. The Cape York specimen is precisely the same size as the larger of these birds, in colour it is somewhat intermediate between the two, but most nearly resembles the lighter-coloured one; its thighs are of a lighter brown, slightly tinged with olive, than either of the Leyden specimens, both of which are from New Guinea. The Paris specimen has a larger and more denuded bill than those at Leyden, but in other respects they are very sunilar.” The P. Papuensis is the largest species of the genus yet discovered; the beauty of its markings and the extreme length of its cuneate tail render it also one of the most graceful. The only specimen that came into my possession from Mr. MacGillivray, for the purpose of figuring, before being deposited in the National Collection, was a male. This, as will be seen in the accompanying Plate, is light brown, beautifully marbled on the under surface with large blotches of white. I have another specimen, received through a different channel, but also from Cape York, which is said to be the female; and such, judging from its redder colouring and smaller size, I believe to be the case, as a similar difference is found to exist between the sexes of P. marmoratus. The male has the whole of the upper surface mottled with greyish-white, brown and black, presenting a very close resemblance to some of the larger kinds of moths, the lighter tints prevailing in some parts and the darker in others ; on the primaries the marks assume the form of bars, and are of a redder hue ; tips of the coverts white, forming irregular bars across the wing ; tail very similar, but here also the markings assume the form of alternate darker and lighter bands with a rufous tint on the edges of the feathers ; the under surface is much lighter than the upper; the greyish-white assumes a larger and more blotch-like form, and the darker marks that of an irregular gorget across the breast; bill and feet olive. The female, which I think somewhat immature, is altogether of a more sandy hue ; the dark marks proceed down the centre of the feathers, and terminate in a round spot of buff; the wing-coverts are tipped with white, and the lighter blotches on the wing are very conspicuous; the under surface, like the upper, is also of a redder hue than in the male, and the markings are of a smaller and more freckled character. The figure is that of an adult male of the natural size. 7 MOR MO GNU ZOW SOR AOn ; iq Ff PET ANUE eRe SOR WO MAG RS eZ (Ofte Cay. Sas LEENA OD. NOME ra ma , Gould \ LA \\ 1 77 GUS ) \ VAR POI ”. £ 8 ~ S 8 ne ~ S \ 8 A nw s Ss & x S S S = 2 3 4 5 ony L101 TOTTI TEN EN: _ “ Zz y g Re PODARGUS MARMORATUS, Gould. Marbled Podargus. Podargus marmoratus, Gould in App. to MacGillivray’s Voy. of Rattlesnake, vol. ii. p. 356. Tuis species, like the P. Papuensis, has been subjected to a careful comparison with MM. Quoy and Gaimard’s original specimen of Podargus ocellatus, now in the Museum of the Jardin des Plantes, and I find so great a difference between the New Guinea and Australian examples, that I cannot regard them otherwise than as distinct from each other. The P. ocellatus is a smaller bird, has a redder tail, and very conspicuous large round white spots on the wing, arranged in the form of three distinct semicircular bars,—characters which do not exist in the Australian bird; I have, therefore, no alternative but to give the latter a distinctive appellation, and add it to the list of the Australian fauna, a fauna rich in the extreme in certain groups, such as the Mehphagide, Maluride, Psittacide, and the present form, Podargus, of which at least eight distinct species are now known to exist. How numerous, then, must be the Cicade, Phasmide and other insects upon which these birds feed ! The present little species is particularly elegant in form, and is, in fact, a miniature representative of the P. Papuensis ; both have lengthened tails, a feature which adds much to their gracefulness of form. As will be seen on reference to the accompanying Plate, much difference exists in the colouring of the sexes, the female being of a deep rusty hue, while the male, particularly on the under surface, is beautifully marbled with pearl-white interspersed with freckles of brown and black. Both the specimens from which my figures were taken were shot by Mr. MacGillivray on the Cape York Peninsula, one on the 14th, the other on the 19th of November 1849. These specimens now grace the National Collection, where they will be available for comparison should any nearly allied species be discovered. The male has the whole of the upper surface and wings minutely mottled with brown, grey and buff, the buffy tint prevailing over the eyes, on the scapularies and on the tips of the wing-coverts ; on the outer webs of the primaries the markings assume the form of bars of mingled buffy, buffy-white and rufous ; tail light brown, crossed with numerous defined bands of grey, freckled with black, and with a rufous hue on the lateral feathers ; under surface pearly-white, minutely freckled with brown and with a line of brown down the stem; a series of these darker marks, forming an irregular line, down each side of the neck; bill and feet brownish-olive. The markings of the female are similar, but her general tint is very much darker and of a more rufous hue; the under surface, too, is dark brown, with here and there large blotches of buffy-white; a series of nearly quadrangular blotches, bordered with dark brown, descends down each side of the neck. The figures represent the two sexes of the natural size. BET (A NCR LO vA OW MOK 5] a (Om Ns £9. GY NEF ede yen WI RS oC ee AC Richter Adel et Lith Hitlinande ds Walton Lp HALCYON FLAVIROSTRIS, Gow. Halcyon (Syma ?) flavirostris, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., July 23, 1850.—Jard. Cont. Orn., 1850. Tus species might easily be mistaken for the Syma Torotoro of M. Lesson; but if the figure in the “ Voyage de la Coquille” be at all correct, there can be little doubt of its being distinct and new to science: its lesser size, less brilliant colouring, the yellow instead of orange hue of the bill, and the smaller size of the serrations of the mandibles, are some of the characters by which it may be distinguished from M. Lesson’s species : in form it is so similar to the typical Haleyons, that I have not considered it advisable to adopt M. Lesson’s subgenus Syma; the slight serrations of the mandibles, the only point in which it differs from Halcyon, appearing to me too trivial to warrant its separation from that genus. It was in that rich district of the peninsula of Cape York, which appears to have a fauna peculiar to itself, (many of the species not being found in other parts of Australia) that the present bird was procured; the following notes by Mr. MacGillivray comprise all the information I have been able to obtain respecting it :— “The Poditti, as it is called by the aborigines, appears to be a rare bird; for although it was much sought for, not more than four or five examples were obtained during our stay. Like the Zanysiptera Sylvia, it is an inhabitant of the brushes, while the 8. Zorotoro of Lesson is a mangrove bird. I myself saw it alive only once, in a belt of tall trees, thick underwood and clumps of the Seaforthia palm fringing a small stream about three miles from the sea. Attracted by the call of the bird, which was recognized by the accompanying natives as that of the much-prized Poditti, three or four of us remained for about ten minutes almost under the very tree in which it was perched, intently looking out for the chance of a shot, before I discovered it on a bare transverse branch, so high up as scarcely to be within range of small shot; however, it fell, but our work was only half over, as the wounded bird eluded our search for a long time ; at length, one of our sable allies—his eyes brightened, I dare say, by visions of a promised axe—found it lying dead in a corner to which it had retreated. The more intelligent natives whom I questioned separately agreed in stating that its mode of nidification is similar to that of the Tunysiptera Sylvia, and that, like that species, it lays several white eges.” The male has the crown of the head, back of the neck, ear-coverts and flanks cinnamon-red ; at the back of the neck a narrow broken collar of black; throat and lower part of the abdomen tawny white; back and wings sordid green; rump and tail greenish blue; bill pale orange, the apical two-thirds of the ridge of the upper mandible dark brown. The female differs in being less brightly coloured, and in having an oblong patch of black on the centre of the head extending a little way down the occiput. The figures represent the two sexes of the natural size. nee Br ag - “4 4 ef 3 "1 (| NG. 6 eS (NC ee Lf ee es ney 7g brs Bee oo £0 &) reencbed Mulla 5 ITT TTT a) 4 INIT Ty cm ih HA) UUN TANYSIPTERA SYLVIA, Gow. White-tailed Tanysiptera. Tanysiptera Sylvia, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., July 23, 1850.—Jard. Cont. Orn., 1850. Quatawur, of the Aborigines at Cape York. Every new species discovered after the publication of a work on the Birds of a country must be regarded with interest ; and the interest is much enhanced, when, as in the present instance, the additional species is of a scarce and beautiful form. One, or at the utmost two species of the genus Zanysiptera are all with which we were previously acquainted; the beautiful 7. Dea is well known to be a native of New Guinea, and in all probability the range of the present species will extend to that country; but hitherto it has only been found on the northern coast of Australia, Cape York being the sole locality it is at present known to inhabit; and where, judging from the numerous specimens lately sent to this country, it appears to be by no means scarce: independently of those brought home by Mr. MacGillivray and the officers of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, I have also received fine examples from Mr. James Wilcox of Sydney. As is the case with the Halcyonide generally, the sexes appear to present but little difference in size and colouring, but the female may be distinguished from the male by being somewhat less brilliant in colour and in the lesser development of the central tail-feathers. “This pretty Zanysiptera,” says Mr. MacGillivray, ‘is rather plentiful in the neighbourhood of Cape York, where it frequents the dense brushes, and is especially fond of resorting to the small sunny openings in the woods, attracted probably by the greater abundance of insect food found in such places than else- where: I never saw it on the ground, and usually was first made aware of its presence by the glancing of its bright colours as it darted past with a rapid, arrow-like flight, and disappeared in an instant among the dense foliage. Its cry, which may be represented by ‘ whee-whee-whee’ and ‘ wheet-wheet-wheet,’ is usually uttered while the bird is perched on a bare transverse branch or woody rope-like climber, which it uses as a look-out station, and whence it makes short dashes at any passing insect or small lizard, generally returning to the same spot. It is a shy suspicious bird, and one well-calculated to try the patience of the shooter, who may follow it in a small brush for an hour without getting a shot, unless he has as keen an eye as the native to whom I was indebted for first pointing it out to me. According to the natives, who know it by the name of ‘ Quatawur, it lays three white eggs in a hole dug by itself in one of the large ant- hills of red clay which form so remarkable a feature in the neighbourhood, some of them being as much as ten feet in height, with numerous buttresses and pinnacles. I believe that the bird also inhabits New Guinea; for at Redscar Bay, on the south-east side of that great island, in long. 146° 50’ E., a head strung upon a necklace was procured from the natives.” Crown of the head, wings, and five lateral tail-feathers on each side blue; ear-coverts, back of the neck and mantle black ; in the centre of the latter a triangular mark of white; rump and two middle tail-feathers pure white; under surface cinnamon-red ; bill and feet sealing-wax-red. The Plate represents the two sexes of the natural size. wx “A 3 WR Bal 9 FN ae Reon Se 8) ele SHON LOA y OM A - ee AOI we | | | 7 7 TOW aT pee Ta alae, Could &H CRichter de et lth LMI UL caroycagytiit Ly " 7 " "i Woe r ACK 1) 1D a ay ] YI I MacNN () LO) ree OOU a. Walte pln ae ARTAMUS MELANOPS, Gowia. Black-faced Wood-Swallow. Artamus nelanops, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., 1865, p. 198.—Id. Handb. Birds of Aust., vol. i. p. 149. ‘« Tuts fine species is unlike every other known member of the genus. It is most nearly allied to Artamus albiventris, but differs from that bird in the jet-black colouring of its under tail-coverts, and from 4. cinereus in its smaller size and the greater extent of the black on the face. The specimen from which my description was taken has been kindly sent to me by Mr. S. White, of the Reed-beds, near Adelaide, South Australia, who informs me that it was shot by him at St. a Becket’s Pool, lat. 28° 30’, on the 23rd of August, 1863, and who, in the notes accompanying it, says, ‘I have never seen this bird south. It collects at night, like 4. sordidus, and utters the same kind of call. It seems to be plentiful all over the north country, and particularly about Chamber’s Creek and Mount Margaret. It feeds on the ground, soars high, and clings in bunches like the others. ‘The two sexes appeared to be very similar in outward appearance ; but the young are much speckled with dusky brown, particularly on the back.’ ” Since the above paragraph appeared in the first volume of my ‘Handbook to the Birds of Australia,’ several other specimens have been kindly forwarded to me by Mr. G. F. Waterhouse, Curator of the Museum of the South Australian Institute at Adelaide, in a note accompanying which that gentleman says :— “In compliance with your wish, I forward herewith by return of post some specimens of 4rtamus melanops lately received from a friend located about 300 miles north of this place, who informs me that they make their appearance in large numbers about August, and remain for a month or six weeks, after which they become scarce.” The preceding brief passages comprise all that is at present known respecting the 4rtamus melanops. Lores, face, ramp, and under tail-coverts black; stripe over the eye, ear-coverts, sides of the face, and throat greyish buff, increasing in depth on the chest so as to form a well-marked band; under surface deli- cate vinous grey; two middle tail-feathers black, the remainder black largely tipped with white ; upper surface of the wings grey, their under surface white; bill leaden grey, darkest at the tip; feet blackish brown. The figures are of the natural size. i s eS WF = a cat Oy | ‘| a PARDALOTUS XANTHOPYGIUS, mcoy. Yellow-rumped Pardalote. Pardalotus vanthopygus, M‘Coy in Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., 3rd ser. vol. xix. p. 184. ————— wanthopyge, M‘Coy in Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., 3rd ser. vol. xx, p. 178. Tue discovery of this beautiful little Pardalote teaches us that the old adage of ‘a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” should never be lost sight of; for the present species must have been frequently seen by me during my rambles in South Australia ; but, owing to its general resemblance to the P. punctatus when among the leafy branches of the Kucalypti, 1 did not consider it necessary to kill a bird I had procured plentifully elsewhere. In my ‘Handbook’ I have stated that the Spotted Diamond-bird (P. punctatus) inhabits the whole of the southern part of Australia, from the western to the eastern extremity of the continent, and the island of ‘Vasmania, all of which, with the exception of the western, had been visited by myself, and that, as I believed, I had collected ev ery species inhabiting these countries ; in this, however, I evidently deceived myself; for Mr. White informs me that the Yellow- -rumped Diamond-bird is more common in South Australia than the Spotted ; and this fact is confirmed by Mr. Waterhouse, the able Curator of the Natural History Museum at Adelaide, having had no difficulty in procuring and sending me half-a-dozen beautiful specimens at a moment’s notice. I have also received others by way of Victoria, which had been collected near Lake Meran in the district of the Lower Mant ray. From a letter addressed to me by Professor M‘Coy, it appears that this nov elty was pointed out to bim by Mr. Leadbeater, of Victoria, a scion of the house in London so well known to all ornithologists. The Pardalotus vanthopygius is closely allied to the P. punctatus, but is even more beautifully coloured ; its bright-yellow rump is a character by which it may at all times be distinguished from its congeners ; me yellow mark is less conspicuous in the female; and hence the females of the two O species are very cae and might be considered identical by persons not versed in ornithology. The area over which this new bird ranges is at present but imperfectly known ; probably the districts bordering the embouchure of the Darling and the Murray, and South Australia generally, constitute its true home. Professor M‘Coy’s description in the ‘Annals and Magazine of Natural History’ above referred to bemg very correct, I take the liberty of transcribing it; indeed it is only an act of justice so to do, since he was the first to make us aware of the existence of the species. “Male. Crown of the head, wings, and tail black, most of the feathers having a round spot of white near the tip, largest on the secondaries ; a stripe of white commences on the nostril, and passes over each eye ; ear-coverts and sides of the neck grey, the margins being lighter, so as to give a slight tranverse mottling ; feathers of the back dark grey at the base, with a large triangular greyish-white spot near the tip, followed by a black edge; lower part of the back, under tail-coverts, throat, and front of the chest rich yellow ; upper tail-coverts crimson ; abdomen pale-brownish cream-colour ; flanks greyish ; bill black; feet brown. ‘Female differs in having the head greyish, like the back, and ae throat whitish. ‘** Total length, from tip of bill to end of longest tail-feathers, 3 inches 8 lines ; bill, from forehead, rather more than 23 lines; wing, from shoulder, 2 inches 3} lines; tarsus 8 lines. “This beautiful species belongs to the same section of the genus as P. rubricatus, P. punctatas, and P. quadragintus, and is distinguished from the others by wanting the red sealing-wax-like appendages to the spurious wing-feathers. It most nearly resembles the P. punctatus, from which it differs in its more slender and slightly longer bill, the white instead of brownish spots on the fore part of the back, the paler abdomen, greyish instead of brownish flanks—and conspicuously by the hinder part of the back being of the same bright yellow colour as the throat and under tail-coverts. ‘Specimens are in the National Museum at Melbourne, from Swan Hill, near the Junction of the Murray and the Darling ; and Mr. Waterhouse has presented some from near Adelaide in South Australia.” The Plate represents two males and a female, of the size of life. tt Pee SANT Pw ol vA nip) ack 7 Walton, Ladbprandet 3; 2 A... .o om 4 TTA LL cATpTT TAT MANUCODIA KERAUDRENIL. Keraudren’s Crow-Shrike. Barita Keraudrenu, Less. Voy. de la Coq., t. 13. Chalybeus cornutus, Cuv. Regn. Anim., tom. i. p. 354, edit. 1829.—Gould in MacGill. Voy. of Rattlesnake, vol. ii. p. 357. Phonygama Keraudrenti, Less. Man. d’Orn., tom. i. p. 141.—Ib. Compl. Buff., t.7. Ib. Traité d’Orn., p.344.—Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. ii. p. 302, Phonygama, sp. 2. Lessoma, Swains. Class. of Birds, vol. ii. p. 264. keraudreni, Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., p. 368, Phonygama, sp. 2. Tuts is perhaps the most marked New Guinea form that has yet been discovered on the continent of Australia. As might be presumed, the extreme northern parts of the latter country, those in fact most contiguous to New Guinea, are the districts in which it was found. It would be interesting to know if a migration of such forms as the present annually takes place between the two countries. With many other birds having greater wing-powers, such a migration would be performed with ease, and doubtless such a change of locality occurs with many of them. At present, New Guinea, owing to the hostile character of its native population, is a sealed country to the collector, and we really know but little of its natural productions. There are doubtless many fine birds in the mountain districts of that country which never quit their own forests, while others, of a more wandering disposition, will be from time to time captured on the Cape York Peninsula and other northern promontories of Australia; by this means we shall be made acquainted with at least a part of the fauna of that terra incognita; time and the advance of civilization will make us acquainted with the remainder. It is not to be expected, nor indeed can it scarcely be wished, that all the species of birds should be ascertained in one or two generations, as, in that case, future research would be deprived of the charm which novelty communicates to the mind; let us, then, be satisfied with the gradual unfolding of nature’s works, and leave to future generations the pleasure of discovering those which are at present withheld from us. I have seen two or three specimens of this bird, all of which were collected during Captain Stanley’s q Expedition. A fine example in the British Museum, obtained at Cape York, is stated by Mr. MacGillivray amg to be a male; it is from this that my figures were taken. Jentre of the crown, the lengthened ear-plumes, the lanceolate feathers on the sides of the neck, back, oe. rump and breast green; shoulders, primaries and tail purplish-black, as are also the thighs, lower part of . ae _ the abdomen and under tail-coverts ; bill and legs black. Be The figures are of the natural size. JZ LE H He —— ros Hallananrdd & Walton imp — o ARSES KAUPI, Gould. Kaup’s Flycatcher. Arses Kaupi, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., December 10, 1850. I nave some little doubt as to the propriety of placing this bird in the genus drses, but rather than multiply the number of genera, perhaps unnecessarily, I have assigned it a place therein, as it accords more nearly with that form than with Monarcha, the only other genus to which it offers alliance. I am happy to have this opportunity of paying a just compliment to my friend Dr. Kaup of Darmstadt, an ornithologist of vast acumen and research, and whose philosophical labours are well known to all naturalists: the compliment is the more appropriate, as he is at this time (1851) engaged in preparing a Monograph of the Muscicapide, to which family the present bird belongs. The specimen here represented is the only one I have seen: it was killed on the north coast of Australia ; and this is all, I regret to say, that is at present known respecting it. Small spot on the chin, crown of the head, lores, line beneath the eye, ear-coverts, broad crescentic band across the back, and a broad band across the breast, deep shining bluish black ; wings and tail brown- ish black ; throat and a broad band across the back of the neck white; lower part of the back and abdomen white, the base of the feathers black, which occasionally showing through give those parts a mottled appear- ance; bill bluish horn-colour, becoming lighter at the tip; feet black. The figures are of the natural size. a ea 5 im UH IITTITITAIT | 2 ‘ 3 ony LAN IAAT MACHAERIRHYNCHUS FLAVIVENTER, Goud. Yellow-breasted Flycatcher. Macherirhynchus flaviventer, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., December 10, 1850. A SINGLE specimen of this extraordinary form is all that has come under my notice; it was collected at Cape York in Northern Australia, and now forms part of the Collection of the Zoological Society of London, to whom it was presented by the late Captain Owen Stanley, R.N. All that is known respecting it is comprised in the following note communicated to me by Mr. MacGillivray :— “A single specimen only of this Flycatcher was procured, during our last visit to Cape York. It was shot by Mr. James Wilcox, who was employed by the late Captain Stanley to procure specimens of natural history for the Norwich and Ipswich Museums, and to whose zeal and industry as a collector I was often much indebted. He told me that he observed it on the skirts of one of the dense brushes or jungles, making short flights in the air, snapping at passing flies, and returning again to the same tree, the Wormia alata of botanists, distinguished by its red papery bark, large glossy leaves and handsome yellow flowers, which attract numbers of insects. The place was frequently visited afterwards, but no other example was seen.” Crown of the head, lores, ear-coverts, wings and tail black ; wing-coverts tipped with white; secondaries margined with white; outer tail-feathers margined on the apical portion of the external web, and largely tipped with white, the white becoming less and less, until only a slight trace of it is found on the central feathers; back olive-black ; throat white; line from the nostrils over each eye, and the breast, abdomen, and under tail-coverts bright yellow; bill black; feet bluish black. The figures are of the natural size. I 5 Iya 3) 4 WAIT Ty i TI(HI bi il MONARCHA LEUCOTIS, Gowda. White-eared Flycatcher. Monarcha Leucotis, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., July 23, 1850.—Jard. Cont. Orn., 1850. I nave refrained from making the White-eared Flycatcher the type of a new genus until more information has reached us respecting it, and in the mean time have assigned it a situation with the other members of that form to which it seems to me to be most nearly allied. Like most of the other new birds figured in this Supplement to the Birds of Australia, it is a native of Cape York, and in all probability its range is a some- what wide one, since it has been killed on Dunk Island. “‘ Respecting this bird,” says Mr. MacGillivray, “T regret to say I can afford you very little information. A specimen was obtained at Dunk Island, off the north-east coast of Australia, in lat. 17° 56’ S., where it was shot during its flight from one tree to another : a second individual was afterwards procured at Cape York, which renders it probable that its range extends between these two places.” trown of the head, back of the neck, primaries, and six middle tail-feathers black ; three lateral tail- feathers on each side black, with white tips; lores, a broad mark over the eye, ear-coverts, sides of the neck, scapularies, and upper tail-coverts, white; throat white, bounded below with black, the feathers lengthened and protuberant ; chest and abdomen light grey ; bill and feet lead-colour. The figures are of the natural size. So “S gl ey, a # Y Pa CN i / et } 8 : many yl 3 As III Di ong U YIIMINIIH UNI MONARCHA ALBIVENTRIS, Gow. White-bellied Flycatcher. Monarcha albiventris, Gould in Proc. of Zool. SOC, HEC, Jo. QUA. Berore recording the little that is known respecting this new species, it will be as well, perhaps, to state that Mr. G. R. Gray has pointed out, in the ‘ Proceedings of the Zoological Society’ for 1860, p. 852, that the true Monarcha trivirgata, which is a native of the island of Timor, is distinct from the bird of the south- eastern parts of Australia, so called in the second volume of this work, Plate 96, and in my ‘ Handbook to the Birds of Australia,’ vol. i. p-. 203, and has dedicated the latter to myself, calling it Monarcha Gouldi. This gentleman, moreover, states that the bird which he has named WV. bimaculata, and which was brought to this country from Batchian by Mr. Wallace, is different from both. To this I may add that the bird here figured, which is a native of the Cape-York district, differs from all of them, and is distinguished for the pure whiteness of the under surface of its body, its axillaries, and the underside of the wings ; whereas in the south-eastern species (JZ Gould) the chestnut colouring of the breast is continued down the entire length of the flanks, over the under surface of the wings, and on the axillaries also in very old specimens. The Northern-Queensland bird, J albiventris, is also a little smaller in size than the New-South-Wales M. Gould, which more nearly assimilates, in size, colour, and markings, to the Timor MZ. trivirgata; but the latter has a longer and much narrower bill than the former, and, moreover, has a greater amount of white on the three outer tail-feathers, in which respect it resembles the Cape-York bird ; but as the Timor species has buff sides and axillaries, like J/. Gould, it cannot be regarded as identical. The M. albiventris is abundantly dispersed over the Cape-York peninsula, where, according to Mr. James Cockerell, it is stationary, breeding on the edges of the scrubs. In actions it is a complete Flycatcher, sallying forth to capture insects, and returning to the same branch, all the while moving the tail from side to side. Mr. Cockerell brought me the egos of this bird, which may be described as of creamy white, covered with minute rufous dots, thinly dispersed over the middle and smaller end, and so thickly at the larger end as nearly to coalesce and form a rufous ‘ap 5 they are about five-eighths of an inch in length by half an inch in breadth, and are generally two in number, laid on a small, shallow, round, and neatly formed nest. Bill and legs olive lead-colour ; forehead and a narrow stripe above the eye, upper portion of the ear- coverts, and the throat jet-black ; cheeks, lower part of the neck, and the chest bright ferruginous ; abdomen | axillaries, and a considerable portion of the under surface of the wing snow-white ; crown of the head, back of the neck, and back bluish grey ; primaries greyish brown; upper tail-coverts and tail black, the three outer feathers of the latter largely tipped with white. There seems to be but little difference in the outward appearance of the sexes; the accompanying Plate may therefore be regarded as representing a male and a female, of the natural size. 5 Hymn 4 TN 3 III ni ony NLU GERYGONE PERSONATA, Gowda. Masked Gerygone. Gerygone personata, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc. 1866, p. 217. Tue accompanying illustration represents one of the novelties lately transmitted to me by my brother-in- law, Charles Coxen, Esq., of Brisbane. It was procured in the Cape York district, through, as I believe, the instrumentality of the Messrs. Jardine, father and sons. This new species, together with the other leaf- loving little birds to which the generic term of Gerygone has been applied, constitute a very marked group in the avifauna of Australia. Most, if not all, of them frequent the smaller branches of trees growing in the brushes, where they flit about, like the Wood-Wren of our own island, and live on the aphides and other minute insects which there abound, and which they capture in the air or seek for among the foliage : and we know that some of the species also feed upon larve of various kinds. Generally speaking, the sexes are alike ; but on this point I have no certain information with regard to the present bird, of which I have as yet seen only the single example figured in two positions on the accompanying Plate. As stated in my ‘ Handbook,’ all the known species of the genus are of small size, unobtrusive in colour, sprightly in their movements, and but little skilled in singing. The Masked Gerygone differs in so many particulars from all others yet discovered, that it is rendered conspicuously distinct from every one of them. Crown and all the upper surface olive-green ; throat and chest deep olive-brown ; behind each nostril a spot of white; a stripe of white also descends from the base of the bill down each side of the neck, and separates the deep olive-brown of the throat from the lighter olive of the ear-coverts ; axilla, all the under surface of the body, and the under tail-coverts delicate yellow ; wings and tail olive-brown ; bill and legs olive-black. Total length 3° inches, bill 4, wing 2¢, tail 14, tarsi 7. The figures are of the natural size. | pa eS Do | es iw 5 mY = eS 7 np ee ‘od, 6, Walton, ? € Lelia > Could. “RIS I ¥ NY y A T WY IL \ \y 4 yn YY N IRV] 7? iT ETROICA 2 tae & BS LAC Pirch , i ld ane J bon Rar ——— ORS ce Mh, yh PETROICA?® CERVINIVENTRI S, Gould. Buff-sided Robin. Petrowca cerviniventris, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., part xxv. p. 221. So far as regards Ornithological science, it was fortunate that Mr. Elsey remained for a long time encamped near the Victuria River, on the north-west coast of Australia, since it enabled him to pay some attention to the natural objects which surrounded him; and the discovery of the present bird, which is quite new to science, is one of the results of his long stay in that spot in charge of a portion of Mr. Gregory's Expedi- tion. All who have read my work on the Birds of Australia, will have observed that a species of Petrovca is figured in the third volume under the name of P. supercitiosa, which bird was collected by the late Mr. Gilbert in the neighbourhood of the Burdekin Lakes, towards the Gulf of Carpentaria; with this species the one here figured is very nearly allied ; and as both differ somewhat in form from the typical mem- bers of the genus, or true Petroice, it may in all probability be found necessary to institute a distinct genus for their reception : they are doubtless representatives of each other in the respective countries they inhabit, the superciliosa dwelling on the eastern parts of the continent, and the cerviniventris in the western. The following is a correct description of the species :-— All the upper surface, wings, and tail chocolate-brown ; line over the eye, throat, tips of the greater wing- coverts, base of the primaries, base and tips of the secondaries, and tips of the tail white; breast grey ; abdomen deep fawn-colour, becoming almost white in the centre; bill black ; feet blackish brown ; irides dark brown. The figures are of the natural size. a ee ad re ep ge ed ee ee ee) SS ed ee > en - ta ot ESS SS Se ~ gy 5 S 4 mT i 3 ony ww, UA )UINUIL DRYMODES SUPERCILIARIS, Gowa. Eastern Scrub Robin. Drymodes superciliaris, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., July 23, 1850.—Jard. Cont. Orn. 1850. Trokaroo, Aborigines of Cape York. Prruaps one of the most interesting of the smaller birds discovered by me in the brushes of South Au- stralia, was a species of this form to which I gave the name of Drymodes brunneopygia, and which I found to be avery recluse bird, inhabiting the densest scrub, retreating from danger and shrouding itself from observation by hopping beneath the thick herbage. I did not fail to remark, also, that its habits were very similar to those of the Saxicoline birds: the new species, represented on the accompanying Plate, is an inhabitant of the north-east coast of Australia; and it will be seen by the following notes by Mr. Mac- Gillivray, that the two birds, as might be supposed, accord as nearly in their habits as they are allied in structure. “While traversing on the 17th of November, 1849, a thin open scrub of small saplings growing in a stony ground thickly covered with dead leaves, about five or six miles inland from Cape York, I observed a nest placed on the ground at the foot of a small tree; its internal diameter was four inches and a half; it was outwardly composed of small sticks with finer ones inside, and lined with grass-like fibres, and was moreover surrounded with dead leaves heaped up to a level with its upper surface ; it contained two eges an inch long by seven-tenths of an inch broad, of a regular oval shape, and of a very light stone-grey thickly covered with small umber blotches, which increased in size and were more thickly placed at the larger end : they were placed side by side, with the large end of one opposite the small end of the other. After watching near the nest for some time, one of the owners appeared, and was procured; but putrefaction having com- menced before my return to the ship, I could not ascertain the sex with certainty: it approached me within three or four yards, hopping with sudden jerks over the leaves, and moving by fits and starts like the Robin of Europe; it uttered no cry or note during the time I was watching its motions; two others were after- wards procured in the same kind of open scrub, and the birds being probably in the immediate neighbour- hood of their nest, hopped up quite close to the observer.” The sexes assimilate in colour, but the female is somewhat smaller than the male. Lores white; immediately above and below the eye a black mark forming a conspicuous moustache ; crown of the head and upper surface reddish brown, passing into chestnut-red on the rump and six middle tail-feathers ; remainder of the tail-feathers black, tipped with white; wings black, with the base of the primaries and the tips of the coverts white, forming two bands across the wing; throat and centre of the abdomen fawn-white ; chest and flanks washed with tawny ; irides umber-brown ; legs and feet flesh-colour. The Plate represents the two sexes of the natural size. Hullmandel & Waléow, trp ould ‘APITO, ¢ i \ EOPSALTRIA de. ct hth II 5 ro S Gould and HC Richter Milt 4 | TMI 3 ILI ii ong HINT EOPSALTRIA CAPITO, Gowda. Large-headed Robin. Eopsaltria Capito, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., part xix. p. 285. Tur great country of Australia is characterized by many striking and varied physical features; in none other, I believe, does the earth’s surface present so many different aspects, or are the contrasts more strongly marked, the central area being either a sterile waste of burning sand or an inland sea, as a drouthy or rainy season prevails; while on the inner slopes of the mountain ranges towards this area, there exist beautiful and fertile downs richly clothed with grass, interspersed with Hucalyptt and Angophore, presenting a park- like picture to the eye. Again, the outer slopes of the high ranges which skirt along the south and eastern coasts, at a distance of from forty to sixty miles from the sea, have in the course of time changed into a soil so rich and deep as to be favourable, not only to the growth of the largest kinds of Eucalyptz, but to magnificent cedars, fig-trees and palms of two or three species. Favoured by an aspect which commands the rays of the sun, and by humidity from the sea, the vegetation here becomes of that dense and peculiar character technically known in New South Wales by the name of Brushes; these districts are tenanted by a bird-life equally peculiar; so that the fauna of the brushes is as distinct from that of the plains as if hundreds of miles of sea rolled between. The unobtrusively coloured bird here represented is a native of the brushes of the south-east coast, and is tolerably plentiful in the neighbourhood of the Clarence, the Manning and the Brisbane rivers. Its existence was not known to me when the ‘“ Birds of Australia” were published ; and its discovery is due to the late Mr. Strange, who sent me several specimens a short time after its completion. Of its habits nothing is known, but they are doubtless very similar to those of the other Lépsaltrie. Like them the sexes do not differ in colour, but the female may generally be distinguished by her somewhat smaller size. Upper surface olive-green, inclining to brown on the head; wings and tail slaty-brown, faintly margined with olive-green ; ear-coverts grey; lores, a line below the eye and the throat greyish white; under surface yellow; irides hazel; bill black ; feet brownish flesh-colour. The figures are of the natural size. Db 3 = a 4 ‘ \ 5 ULL] NATTUIT}AUTTFTTN UAHA nm PRs (I) INN) UU ms EKOPSALTRIA LEUCURA, Gowia. White-tailed Robin. Eopsaltria leucura, Gould in Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 4th ser., vol. iv. p. 108. Tue late John Gilbert was probably the first person who shot this fine species of Hopsaltria, of which I have had a mutilated skin, obtained by him at Port Essington, in my possession for the last twenty years. The specimen alluded to is too imperfect for describing or figuring ; but I am enabled to supply these desiderata g is known respecting the Hopsaltria leucura, except that it inhabits the great beds of mangroves bordering the coasts from two others now before me in the finest state of preservation. Unfortunately nothin of the northern part of Australia (to which, according to Mr. Cockerell, it is confined), that it is very quiet in all its actions, and rather rare in the neighbourhood of Somerset. There appears to be no difference what- ever in the colouring of the sexes, in which respect this new species assimilates to the little group of Yellow-breasted Robins (Lopsaltria australis, EL. griseogularis, &c.). Its nearest ally is the . deucogaster of Western Australia; but it differs from that species in being of larger size, and in the basal portion of the five outer tail-feathers on each side being white. The following description of the colouring of this new species was published by me in the ‘ Annals and Magazine of Natural History,’ above referred to :— ‘Forehead, lores, and a line nearly surrounding the eye and the ear-coverts black ; head and upper sur- face dark leaden grey, fringed posteriorly with greyish white ; wings blackish brown, darkest on the shoulders ; upper tail-coverts black ; two centre tail-feathers black, the next on each side black, with a stripe of white on the basal part of the shaft and outer web ; the remaining four on each side white at the base, and black for the remainder of their length ; all the under surface and the under tail-coverts white, with the exception of a broad band of pale grey across the breast ; bill and feet black. «Total length 63 inches, bill +3, wing 34, tail 3, tarsi 1.” ‘Habitat. The Cape-York district,” and other parts of the north coast as far as the Coburg Peninsula. The figures are supposed to represent a male and a female, of the size of life. 1 SA a 4 a J 5 4 3 E = Ee = III 2 | INN} UNI ony MENURA ALBERTI, Gow. Albert Lyre Bird. Menura Alberti, Gould in Proc. of Linn. Soc., February 5, 1850.—Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., p. 215.—Jard. Cont. Orn., 1850. Tur dense, luxuriant, and almost impenetrable brushes which skirt along the eastern coast of Australia from Sydney to Moreton Bay, are, as might be supposed, tenanted by many forms both of mammalia and birds peculiarly their own; many of these districts are very partially known, and some of them may be said to be as yet untrodden, hence it is not surprising that an additional species of this extraordinary form should have been there discovered. I must fairly admit, however, that I was not prepared for the acquisition of so remarkable a bird within the limits of the colony of New South Wales. I have great pleasure in naming this species JZ. Albert, in honour of His Royal Highness Prince Albert, as a slight token of respect for his personal virtues, and the liberal support he has rendered to my various publications. The specific differences between the present bird and the older known species, JZ. superba, are very apparent; they consist in the rufous colouring of the plumage, and in the total absence of the brown barrings of the lyre-shaped tail-feathers, which, moreover, are much shorter than the other feathers of the tail, while in JV. superba they are the longest; they are “composed,” says Sir William Jardine, who has carefully com- | pared the specimens of the two species in my possession, ‘ of very broad webs, loose but not separated. The next six feathers on each side are similar in structure, having wide separated barbs, but they are finer and shorter than in JZ. superba. The two centre feathers are also of the same structure, and cross each other at the base; but the inner webs are broader, the outer rudimentary barbs stronger and placed more thickly ; the entire tail considerably shorter.” The first specimens of this bird that came under my notice were sent to me by Mr. Strange of Sydney; my friend Dr. Bennett also forwarded to me almost simultaneously a fine example belonging to the Museum, which the Directors with their wonted liberality, had at his request permitted to be sent to England for illustration in the present work. “I have often seen this new species of MMenura,” says Dr. Bennett, “ but always regarded it as a young male of JZ. superba, until Dr. Stephenson residing at York Station, Richmond River, (who accompanied Sir Thomas Mitchell on his last expedition,) informed me that he believed it to be new, which on comparison I found to be the case. I cannot, perhaps, do better than send you the following extract from Dr. Stephenson’s letter, dated Sept. 20, 1849 :—), 9 Z > - 5 ULI) NATTTUINpUUT TTA jim om i IH)INN} (U1 MALURUS HYPOLEUCUS, Gowa. Fawn-breasted Superb Warbler. Malurus hypolewcus, Gould in Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., 3rd. ser. vol. xix. p. 369. Since I published a description of this very distinct species of Malurus in the work above referred to, I have received examples direct from Queensland, They formed part of a collection of birds procured in the Cape York district, and sent to this country by John Jardine, Esq. The males contained therein were accompanied by a specimen which I consider to be the female ; hence a description of that sex, with which I was previously unacquainted, will be given below. All the male examples that have come under my notice are very similarly coloured, and, I feel confident, are fully adult and in their nuptial dress. The colouring of this new bird will doubtless be governed by the law which prevails in all the other members of the genus ; in that case, its spring and autumn plumage will greatly differ. The Malurus hypoleucus is easily distinguished from all the other known members of the subfamily to which it belongs by the fawn-white colouring of its under surface, by its white lores and eye-ring, and the deep- blue tint of its upper surface; it has not the projecting ear-tufts which constitute so remarkable a feature in M. cyaneus and its immediate allies ; it also differs from the variegated group, M. Lamberti &c., in its bicoloured garb; to the black-headed and red-rumped AZ. melanotus and M. Browni it has no more affinity than it has to the white-winged JZ. deucopterus and the white-backed 1. leuconotus. Were I asked if I observed an indication of a departure from the ordinary type of this genus of birds in any one of its members, I should say that something of the kind is apparent in the colouring of its plumage and in the more gibbous form of the bill of the present species; still it is a Malurus and nothing else. As is the case with many of the species recently discovered in that rich country, Queensland, we as yet know nothing of its habits and economy. The male has the crown of the head and all the upper surface dull indigo-blue, somewhat brighter on the head; ear-coverts azure-blue; lores and a narrow ring round each eye white ; wings nearly uniform p brown, with a slight tinge of dull blue at the base of the primaries; under surface cream-white from the ie f Ecaisiiaiaingsirn chin to the vent, with a wash of fawn-colour on the flanks; all the tail-feathers blue, except the outer web of the external one and the tips of the remainder, which are white, gradually diminishing in extent as the feathers approach the central ones ; bill black ; Jegs light brown. 8 Total length 4? inches, bill %, wing 13, tail 23, tarsi 2. enemas The female has the whole of the upper surface, wings, and tail light brown, with a tinge of rufous on the wing-coverts, ramp, and upper tail-coverts ; under surface creamy white, washed with light fawn-colour on the sides of the neck, chest, and flanks ; bill brown. The Plate represents two males and a female, of the size of life. 5 pT 4 IIA)UINTIM i i" on AHI UUU MALURUS CALLAINUS, Gowa ‘Turquoisine Superb Warbler. Malurus calleinus, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc. 1867, p. 302. For a knowledge of the existence of this lovely species I am indebted to S. White, Esq., of the Reed Beds, Adelaide, who informs me that he was under the impression it was a new bird the moment he saw the first example that came under his notice, and was therefore induced to shoot and skin eight or ten others of both sexes, all of which, with the exception of two males, he had the misfortune to lose in crossing Spencer’s Gulf. They were procured in the “Salt Bush Scrub,” about 300 or 400 miles north-west of Adelaide. Upon measuring them Mr. White found that the extent of their wings from tip to tip varied from 51 to 6 inches, the specimen sent to me being one of the smaller examples; their habits were very similar to those of the other members of the genus, and were not characterized by any peculiarity. The males, as is usual when adorned with their nuptial dress, were very shy; and those secured by Mr. White were obtained by a kind of ruse (placing his hat on the ground and hiding himself in the bush until curiosity prompted the birds to examine the unusual object). That this gentleman may again visit the home of the species and obtain the female is my ardent wish; he should bear in mind that, the locality being maiden ground, in all probability other unknown species of birds will be found, the discovery of which will amply reward him for the trouble of the research; and I have no doubt he will do so; for I have reason to believe that no one of my many correspondents in Australia is more keenly alive to the interest which attaches to our favourite branch of science—Ornithology. The Jalurus callamus pertains to that section of the genus which comprises the richly-coloured M. splendens, of Western Australia, and the MZ. melanotus, of the more central parts of the continent; it differs, however, from both those species sufficiently to warrant its beg regarded as distinct. bY S, 2 2) Entire crown of the head, mantle, and upper tail-coverts light turquoise-blue; ear-coverts similar in yo colour, but of a conspicuously lighter hue; throat rich cobalt-blue; entire abdomen and under tail-coverts rich verditer-blue ; the turquoise-coloured feathers of the crown are separated from those of the mantle by a band of jet-black, while the mantle is again separated from the upper tail-coverts by a conspicuous patch of CAS CAG) & Eg & the same colour; a lunate band of deep black also separates the cobalt-blue of the throat from the verditer- blue of the under surface; tail-feathers dull green, slightly tipped with greyish white; wings brown, each feather tinged with greyish green on its outer web; under surface of the shoulder buff; bill and legs Beg Ty Go brownish black. Total length 4+ inches, bill + Q? 1 7 nn g Pete wing 2, tail 2, tarsi 2. The figures are of the size of life. et : sf = S 4 ~~ sf i | | < wn 4 my MMVII 3 yi ony IMI MI IAN MALURUS LEUCONOTUS, Gow. White-backed Superb Warbler. Malurus leuconotus, Gould in Proc. Zool. Soc. 1865, p- 198, and Handb. Birds of Aust., vol. i. p. 332. I sevisve that up to the present time there has not been a single species of the genus Ma/urus found in any other country than Australia and the adjacent islands; but wherever a voyager may step on shore on the coast of that continent, whether it be at Port Essington or Cape York on the north, at the Swan on the western coast, Rockingham or Moreton Bays on the east, Victoria and South Australia or Tasmania, he cannot take a lengthened walk into the interior without meeting with one or other of the numerous species of these lovely birds, popularly known as Superb Warblers. They are, indeed, to be found in every district, even in the sterile interior. None were known to Linneus or his contemporaries ; but one of them attracted the notice of the voyagers of the latter part of the last century, and was figured in White’s ‘ Voyage to Botany Bay,’ at page 286. White’s figure, however beautiful may be the bird it portrays, did not lead us to suspect that so many other species of the form would be discovered, or that the whole would constitute a very distinct subfamily ; for so the Aaluri may in justice be considered. In their structure, in their style of colouring, and in the changes to which they are subject, they appear to be isolated from most other known birds, and seem to be naturally divided into several sections. First there is the lovely MWalurus coronatus, which for the present stands alone as the largest and as having the most beautifully coloured crown of any of the other members of the genus. Secondly, the 1 Lamberti, M. elegans, M. pulcherrimus, and VW. amabilis constitute a section distinguished for the variegated character of their plumage. Ina third may be arranged the JZ splendens, M. melanotus, M. callainus, M. longicaudus, avd M. cyaneus. Fourthly there is the Red-backed JZ. melanocephalus, and M. cruentatus; fifthly, the white winged JZ. euco- pterus, M. leuconotus, and M. cyanotus, if the bird discovered by Quoy and Gaimard, in the “ Voyage de PUranie,” on Dirk Hartog’s Island should prove to be different from the species found in New South Wales, which I think probable,—a doubt I could have cleared up if their original specimen had been in existence ; but on inquiry at Paris I found it was not; sixthly, the new species lately described by me from Cape York under the appellation of Malurus hypoleucus, and which differs from all others in having the entire under surface of a uniform buffy white. These numerous species, and others which I believe remain undiscovered, are somewhat allied to Amyéis and Stipiturus: but none of the members of these latter genera change their plumage according to the season, or differ materially in the colouring of the sexes ; on the other band the transformations which the Wala? undergo and the consequent difference of colour in the same individual at opposite seasons of the year are most surprising. I wish it were in my power to give some authentic information respecting the true habitat of the fine bird figured on the accompanying Plate; but I can only say that a single example was forwarded to England in company with the beautiful plumed Lophophaps T have named Jeucogaster, by Mr. Galbraith, of Machri- hanish station, South Australia, to his sister Mrs. Craufuird, of Budleigh Salterton, Devon, in whose possession it now remains. In all probability the interior of South Australia is its true home. Itisa longer-tailed bird than the JZ. /eucopterus vel cyanotus, and has the back silvery white, while that part is blue in the bird from New South Wales. The entire head, neck, under surface, rump, and tail deep blue ; back, shoulders, greater and lesser wing- coverts and secondaries silky white ; primaries brown ; bill black; feet brownish black. The figures are of the natural size. ahh Lip hat WY Ev 5 Loud) & HO Richter, del 3 4 2 iyi gay al SPHENURA BROADBENTHI, coy. Rufous-headed Bristle-bird. Sphenura Broadbenti, M‘Coy, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., 3rd ser. vol. xix. p. 185, and vol. xx. p. 179. My thanks are hereby tendered to Professor M‘Coy and the Governors of the National Museum at Melbourne, for their liberality in sending to London, for my use, the only specimen of this bird which has as yet been discovered, and which I consider to be one of the most important and interesting species that the colony of Victoria has unfolded to us, because it is the third species of a genus characterized by many peculiarities, and of a form that hitherto has only been found in Australia. It will scarcely be necessary to point out the difference between this bird and the old Sphenura brachyptera and S. longirostris ; for they can never be confounded, the feature which has induced Professor M‘Coy to assign to the former the trivial name of Rufous-headed Bristle-bird being non-existent in the others, which are nearly uniform im their colouring; it is also much the largest and finest bird of the three. Professor M‘Coy states that, not having seen a second example, he is not certain if the individual he has described had attained to maturity; but on this point I have no doubt, and unhesitatingly assert that it is fully adult. In all probability the female, when discovered, will not differ in colouring, but, as is the case with the other species, will be somewhat smaller than the male. My Plate, which represents the bird in two positions, will enable ornithologists, both in Australia and elsewhere, to form a just conception of this rara avis. Many other new species of birds will doubtless yet come to light when the dense scrubby portions of Australia are more closely investigated than they have yet been. Many peculiar physical features characterize that great southern land ; and each has to be closely searched before we can gain a complete knowledge of its inhabitants. I have carefully compared the bird with Professor M‘Coy’s description, published in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History above referred to, and find it to be so correct that it is only an act of justice to that gentleman to transcribe it and his accompanying remarks. “‘Back, shoulders, and flanks dull brown; wings and tail of a slightly richer and more rufous brown, the tail-feathers in some lights seeming to be transversely marked with faint, glossy, transverse, narrow bands of a slightly lighter shade; crown, nape, and ear-coverts rich chestnut or rufous brown; a triangular spot in front of and slightly over each eye, and the throat, greyish white ; feathers of the breast lunulated, greyish white at their margins, dull brownish like the flanks at the base ; the greyish white extends in a narrow track along the middle of the abdomen; legs, feet, upper part, and tip of the bill dark brown; lateral margins of the upper mandible and the basal portion of the lower one yellowish. “Length 7 inches 9 lines; bill, from gape 11: lines, from forehead 7 lines; wings 3 inches 42 lines ; tail 4 inches 10 lines; tarsi 1 inch 2 lines. “The greater length of the wing, tarsi, known, as well as the rufous head and ears Iam uncertain what value should be attached to the much darker and stronger lunulation of the and bill easily distinguish this species from the two previously and the greyish-white instead of buff colour over the front of the eye. breast-feathers, as I have only seen one specimen, and am not certain whether it has attained maturity. The bill is stronger, beg deeper as well as longer, and slightly more arched in the culmen than in the S. brachyptera, to which it is most nearly allied. The sixth primary is also slightly longer than the fifth and seventh, which are equal; the claws are rather stouter than in that species, and the three or four large rictal bristles are weaker. «The specimen described was presented to the museum at Melbourne by Mr. Broadbent, who shot it in December 1858, in a dense scrub 24 miles from Portland Bay, while it was uttering a note like that of an , English Thrush, and running over logs on the ground. I have not since seen another specimen. The figures are of the natural size. AND BA BOA SE LNs | CE AR me 5 Iiytiiijtttt mi IL IUATTUY NN i " oni III ILA ATRICHIA RUFESCENS, Ramsay. Rufescent Scrub-bird. Atrichia rufescens, Ramsay in Proc. of Zool. Soc., 1866, pp. 438, 439. Ix my account of Atrichia clamosa (vol. ii. pl. 34), I stated that few of the novelties received from Western Australia more highly interested me than the bird which Gilbert met with among the dense scrubs of that country, and to which his attention had been directed by its peculiar noisy notes long before his patient watching was rewarded by his obtaining examples. In my ‘Handbook’ I also remarked that the then only known species is “as singular in its structure as it is shy and retiring in its habits; the total absence of vibrissze in a bird so closely allied to Sphenura, in which they are so much developed, renders it one of the anomalies of the Australian fauna.” I have considered it desirable to make the foregoing brief remarks on the type species of the genus before entering upon the history and description of a second, which has lately been made known to us by Edward P. Ramsay, Esq., of Dobroyde in New South Wales, and whose account of it cannot fail to be interesting to all ornithologists, as it throws considerable light upon the economy of this singular genus of birds, the members of which appear to be especially adapted for frequenting the interior of forests, and for living on the insects which are abundant among decaying trees and fallen logs of timber: here the 4trichie creep mouse-like over the bark, or sit on a dripping stem and mock all surrounding notes. In his remarks on this new Species, communicated to the Zoological Society, Mr. Ramsay says :— “The specimen from which my description was taken is one of two obtained by Mr. James F. Wilcox during an excursion made by himself and Mr. J. MacGillivray to the brushes of the Richmond River in June 1865; and he has favoured me with the following transcript from his notes made at the time. ‘November 17, 1865, while in the Bowling Creek, Richmond River, in a dense scrub, my attention was drawn to the note of a bird I had never before heard, and which I at once knew would prove a prize, should I be fortunate enough to procure it. The scrub being too thick to admit of my standing upright, I followed the sound on my hands and knees until it appeared to be almost at the muzzle of my gun; here I remained fixed quite half an hour, and I can scarcely describe my feelings during that time. Although not superstitious, I was almost inclined to think some evil spirit was playing mea trick; for at one moment the bird would give out what seemed to be its own notes, apparently just in front of me, and the next minute mimic those of the Spine-tailed Orthonyx in another direction; then the Scrub-Robin’s notes would be imitated in some other place; sometimes its voice seemed to come from the ground, and at others from the trees above me. This state of things lasted until I became painfully cramped from the position I had to le in, and my eyes painful from staring about so long. I was just about to give up the search, when, to my delight, I saw my tormentor hop from one bush to another, not more than 7 or 8 feet from me; the scrub, however, was so dense that I could not bring the gun to bear upon it; but marking well the spot where the bird was sitting, | managed to back a little through a narrow open space, fired, and, to my intense satisfaction, succeeded in bringing it down. I am positive it kept in the same place during the whole time, and yet its mimicking voices.were heard in different places.’ ” In a note subsequently sent to me, Mr. Ramsay writes :— “During a visit to Tarrango Creek, on the North Richmond River, I obtained more than a dozen, but, to my surprise and disappointment, did not find a female among them. Only on one occasion did I meet with more than a single bird in the same place. They are always among the logs and fallen trees overgrown with weeds, vines, nettles, &c., and are the most tiresome birds to procure imaginable. As to their ventriloquial powers, chey must be heard to be believed. hey will mock a Spine-tail’s chirp so well, that more than once I have turned round in expectation of seeing that species on the log behind me; and upon one occasion the note of Pachycephala gutturalis sounded so close above me, that I went my way believing I had mistaken a ‘“Thickhead” for an Atrichia, and immediately after heard the latter uttering its usual chirping note, which closely resembles that of Climacteris picumnus, and may be imitated by whistling the words chip ! chip! chip! several times in succession ; it also indulges in a kind of scolding hiss, like that of the Cisticofe. It is impossible to say what its own note really is. I have frequently stood on a log waiting for it to show itself from among the tangled mass of vines and weeds at my feet, when all of a sudden it would begin to squeak and imitate first one bird and then another, now throwing its voice over my head, then on one side, and then again apparently from the log on which I was standing. This it will continue to do for hours together; and you may remain all day without catching sight of it.” It is evident that the female is even more shy than the male ; whenever that sex may be detected I believe it will be very similar in colour, but probably somewhat less in size. The figures in the accompanying plate are of the size of life. Ad | t Fallananel i! 4| 5 3 mag = : t= aN = & = | = 4 PYCNOPTILUS FLOCCOSUS, Gow. Downy Pycnoptilus. Pycnoptilus floccosus, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., May 14, 1850. Iv the Birds of Australia I instituted the genus, Hylacola, for the Acanthiza pyrrhopygia of Vigors and Horsfield, adding thereto another species under the name of H. cauta. The present bird is allied to that form, but still differs in so many points, that I am constrained to make it the type of a new genus, with the appellation of Pycnopéilus, from the dense and silky character of its plumage: unfortunately I know nothing of its habits and economy. I purchased it of Mr. Warwick, who had obtained it in a small collection of birds said to have been formed in the interior of New South Wales towards the River Morumbidgee : ae judging from its very thick clothing and overhanging back feathers, I conclude that, like the members of the genus Dasyornis, it is a frequenter of the ground in dense and scrubby places; a conjecture which I should be happy to have verified by residents in New South Wales who may be favourably situated for observing it. General plumage brown, inclining to rufous on the lower part of the back, upper tail-coverts and tail ; forehead, lores, throat and breast dark reddish buff, with a very narrow crescent of dark brown at the tip of each feather; centre of the abdomen greyish brown, crossed by crescentic bands of black; flanks and vent brown, passing into deep rufous on the under tail-coverts; bill brown; base of the under mandible fleshy brown; legs and feet fleshy brown. The Plate represents the bird in two positions, of the natural size. | [A AN NL NOD DA I A | EA OP OY) RS TG /mp 7 ds Umande 4 Waltow, HY. ltd | (7: 71 V Gould und Ht =o =| fp i. = f | = =a] § HAHUIIVUII ony ACANTHIZA MAGNA, Gould. Great Acanthiza. For the knowledge of this new and very distinct species of Acanthiza we are indebted to Ronald C. Gunn, Esq., a gentleman who has long resided in Van Diemen’s Land, and whose name will be for ever perpetuated in the annals of science for the numerous botanical discoveries made by him in the island he has adopted as his home. I am, moreover, indebted to Mr. Gunn for the only specimen of this bird which has come under my notice, and which was collected by him in one of the districts of the northern part of the island. I have carefully compared this specimen with every other member of the genus, and have no hesitation in pronouncing it an entirely new species of this Australian form. In size it approaches the smaller species of Sericornis; but in its structure and the character of its plumage, it is closely allied to the members of the genus in which I have placed it. Head, all the upper surface, sides of the neck and flanks olive-brown, becoming of a more rufous hue on the rump and upper tail-coverts ; wings blackish-brown, washed with olive on the external webs; coverts, particularly the greater ones, tipped with white ; primaries narrowly edged with grey, innermost secondaries margined all round the tip with white ; tail olive, crossed near the tip by a broad band of dusky-brown, beyond which the external feathers are margined on both webs with greyish-white ; lores black ; ear-coverts slaty-brown ; throat and under surface straw-yellow ; bill blackish-brown ; feet fleshy-brown. The figures are of the size of life. NB SE 6 SENZA SA BV EN JD ND fe Gi CALE Walter inp PITTA MACKLOT I, Miill. et Schlee. Macklot’s Pitta. Pitta Mackloti, Miill. et Schleg. Verh. Nat. Gesch. Neder, &e. Land-en Volk., p. 22.—Temm. Pl. Col. 547.—G. R. Gray, Proc. of Zool. Soc., 1858, p. 175, and Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 213, Pitta, sp. 20. Brachyurus Mackloti, Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., tom. i. p. 256, Brachyurus, sp. 14. Erythropitta Mackloti, Bonap. Consp. Vol. Anisod., Deen Onm Sie Brachyurus (Erythropitta) Mackloti, Elliot, Mon. of Pittidee, pl. xxi. — Since we have become better acquainted with the zoology of Australia, and particularly with that of the district termed Cape-York Peninsula, naturalists are more than ever convinced that that country, New Guinea, and probably the Aru Islands were at one time united—an opinion which seems to be strikingly confirmed when we find several species of birds common to them all. The Pitta Mackloti is an instance in point; for it is found in each of the countries above mentioned, and, although I have not received any of its eggs from New Guinea or the Aru Islands, I possess undoubted examples, as well as young birds, from the neighbourhood of Somerset, in the Cape-York district, where they were collected by Mr. James Cockerell, who informs me that, although not common, it is sufficiently abundant there to render the obtaining examples a matter of no great difficulty. It inhabits thick viny scrubs, based with stones, and overrun with rank herbage of various kinds. Its mournful whistle, which is most frequently uttered near sundown, is very deceptive, appearing to come from an opposite direction to that in which the bird is stationed ; it is, in fact, a perfect ventriloquist. It sometimes leaves the ground, and may occasionally be seen perched on the tops of the highest trees, where it sits very close. One of the nests of this bird, found by Mr. Cockerell, was placed on the head of a stuwp about six or seven feet from the ground ; it was a loose structure of interlaced grasses and fine woody fibres. The eges in this instance were three in number, of a creamy white, covered all over with small speckles and streaks of a purplish hue, many of which were much paler than others and appeared as if beneath the surface of the shell. Insome specimens, these markings are less numerous, but in all instances are alike in character. The eggs appear to vary in size, even in the same nest, some being one inch in length by thirteen sixteenths in diameter, while others measure one inch and an eighth in length by fifteen sixteenths of an inch in breadth. This species is much less noisy than the Pitta simillima; its note, too, is less varied ; and it appears to inake a more or less distant migration, since Mr. Cockerell tells me that it arrives in the neighbourhood of Somerset in October and November, and departs again in January and February; whither, he knows not, but supposes to New Guinea. The Editor of ‘The Ibis’ for 1868 suggests that this Australian bird may be specifically distinct from the true P. Mackloti, \itherto only known from New Guinea, as it seems not to have the entirely black throat and cheeks of the Papuan; but, after a careful examination of specimens from both countries, I can affirm that New-Guinea and Australian examples are precisely alike. Crown of the head dark reddish brown, striated with a few streaks of light blue; nape and back of the neck dull red; throat reddish brown, deepening into a gorget of velvety black; ear-coverts brown, indi- stinctly tipped posteriorly with blue; across the breast a broad band of verditer-blue, below which is a nar- rower one of velvety black ; abdomen, flanks, vent, and under tail-coverts deep scarlet ; back and scapularies dark green; wing-coverts and secondaries deep blue, with lighter edges, and with a white spot on the shoulder, mostly hidden by the coverts ; primaries black, washed with grey near the tips of the outer webs ; the third with a broad patch of white on the inner web, near its base; the fourth with a band of white at the same part across both webs and the shaft ; and the fifth with a patch of white on the same part on the outer web and shaft and slightly intruding on to the inner web, these white marks forming a small but conspicuous spot on the centre of the wing; rump and tail deep blue; bill black ; legs and feet flesh-colour. In the immature state, the head and neck are brown, with indications at the back of the neck of the future red colouring ; the green of the upper surface is mottled with brown; the blue of the wings and tail is much paler ; moreover there are a greater number of white feathers on the shoulder than in the adult ; the throat aud breast are striated with brown, amidst which are a few feathers of the future black gorget and blue and black breast-bands ; in like manner, the abdomen is tawny, with a few red feathers appearing on the upper part, down the centre, on the flanks, and the vent. The Plate represents the two sexes, of the size of life. so aa tS ME 2 A MN A BY NON Ne AES MEN ANN GO SAO) \) ree DS's | If ” WW sy} fh fil Mie gs rz, A >> 1p 3 0. zm e MERULA POLIOCEPHALA. Grey-headed Blackbird. Turdus poliocephalus, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp., xliv. 25.—Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 219, Turdus, sp. 72. Juliginosus, Lath. in Lamb. Icon. ined., vol. ii. pl. 42. Merula Nestor, Gould.—Jard. and Selb. Ill. Orn., new series, pl. 37. Ash-headed Thrush, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. App. p. 373.—Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. x. p. 226. Turdus fuliginosus, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp., xlii. ? Sooty Thrush, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p. 185 ?.—Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. x. p. 195?.—Lath. Gen. Hist., WO, Wo JO WDE ?. Tue present species of Merula appears to have been known for a much longer period than I had supposed ; indeed I was not aware that Latham had given a good description of the bird under the name of Zurdus polocephalus, otherwise I should not have proposed the additional name of Nestor. When Norfolk Island was first made a penal settlement, this bird was doubtless very common there ; but I have reason to believe it has now become scarce, having been partially extirpated by the Government officers and convicts who tenanted this beautiful island for so many years. Some short time since, I described a second species of this form from Lord Howe’s Island, under the name of Merula vinitineta; and I have seen a third species in the British Museum (Merula wanthopus ?, Turdus aurantius, var. 8 Gmel.), which I believe is from New Caledonia. All these have a general resemblance both as to form and style of colouring ; and it would be as well perhaps if they were formed into a new genus among the Merulne, for I have always considered them somewhat removed from the true Blackbirds of Northern Asia and Europe. I have long wished to know something of the habits and economy of these birds, but at present nothing has been ascertained : there appears to be less difference in the colouring of the sexes than occurs among the true Meru/e ; for the birds I consider to be females are very similarly coloured, and are only a trifle less in size. Head, neck, and front of the throat light ashy brown, the remainder of the plumage dark sooty black ; in some specimens the under tail-coverts have a stripe of dull white down the centre of each ; bill, eyelash and feet yellow. The figures are of the natural size. Ae SSNS ANS ACES SENN RE SAE oe SEAS BN SS. GN q ‘1 TP 77 ; D...7 l Gould und C fachier del. x bith Gould Fidimanded & Walton, inp MERULA VINITINCTA, Gowa Vinous-tinted Blackbird. Merula vinitincta, Gould in Proc. of Zool Soc., July 24, 1855. Amone the various writers on ornithology, some confine their labours to the birds of particular countries, while others take up the subject in the most extended sense by studying the birds of our globe generally. Those of the latter class cannot but have been struck with the facts, that while certain forms are universally dispersed, others have a less extended range ; and that while in some countries certain genera are numerous, in others of close proximity, and apparently quite as well adapted for their residence, they are entirely absent. For instance, members of the genus Corvus, or typical crows, are to be found in North America, but not in South America: of this form, too, members of which are numerous throughout the Old World, that is in Europe, India, China and Africa, and in Australia, no example is to be found in New Zealand or in Polynesia. The Swallow tribe may also be cited as a case in point ; numerous species being found in Australia, while none occur in New Zealand, and few if any among the more northern Polynesian Islands. The genus Merula, of which the bird now under consideration is a typical example, is a familiar form in Europe, India, Africa and South America; but in the great country of Australia and in New Zealand no species has yet been discovered ; yet, strange to say, the form does exist, and two very distinct species have been discovered in Lord Howe’s and Norfolk Island—two small spots lymg nearly midway between those two countries. This is most puzzling to an ornithologist who makes the birds of the world his study, for he is at a loss to conceive why this form and some few others should thus be dotted over the face of the globe; and the mystery I fear will not be readily solved. That, however, such is the fact, is proved by Mr. MacGillivray having procured two fine examples of the present bird on Lord Howe’s Island. I regret that no account of their habits accompanied the specimens, as it would be most interesting to know what is the character of the vegetation and other circumstances favourable to the existence of a species so intimately allied to our own well-known Blackbird. In size and form this bird very closely approximates to the Merula Nestor of Norfolk Island, but differs very considerably in its colouring. The male has the head and nape blackish-brown ; upper surface and wing-coverts reddish-brown ; wings brown, margined with olivaceous; tail brown; throat dark bluish-grey; under surface vinaceous red; bill bright gamboge-yellow ; eyelash yellow; tarsi and toes yellow. The Plate represents the two sexes of the size of life. a ee eae a | IN OS SN A AX, Gould. 4 ) X& NE OTHOR VN IN — YF) x4 ai 5 iit 4 ml ULNA yl 3 til 2 | (AQLULAUUL a ON “ORS ©) OF inches, wing 6, tail 4, tarsus 14, bill 17.” (Deggles.) I have figured the bird in two positions, as near the natural size as possible. a a Vr a I | BA BO S\N AN bs a (| a ae | CHLAMYDER ) I R \ - Y 4 IVAN J Gould and HC Richter: del et lth ; p77 AX COWL . Walter, Lp HAIVALAOUAYLAEGAUTGTINevaTa vn a " y I" aoa — ane ee rs a CHLAMYDERA GUTTATA, Gowa. Guttated Bower-bird. Chlamydera guttata, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., 1862, oe olle Chlamydodera guttata, Id. Handb. Birds of Aust., vol. i. p. 452. I am indebted to the researches of T. F. Gregory, Esq., for a knowledge of this new species. It was collected in North-western Australia, and is doubtless the bird which constructs the bowers described by Captain (now Sir George) Grey in his ‘Travels,’ vol. i. pp. 196 and 245, where he states that, on gaining the summit of one of the sandstone ranges forming the watershed of the streams flowing into the Glenelg and Prince Regent’s Rivers, ‘‘ we fell in with a very remarkable nest, or what appeared to me to be such. We had previously seen several of them, and they had always afforded us food for conjecture as to the agent and purpose of such structures. This very curious sort of nest, which was frequently found by myself and other individuals of the party, not only along the sea-shore, but in some instances at a distance of six or seven miles from it, I once conceived must have belonged to a Kangaroo, until I was informed that it was the run or playing-place of a species of Chlamydera. These structures were formed of dead grass and parts of bushes sunk a slight depth into two parallel furrows in sandy soil, and then nicely arched above. But the most remarkable fact connected with them was, that they were always full of broken sea-shells, large heaps of which protruded from each extremity. In one instance, in a bower the most remote from the sea that we discovered, one of the men of the party found and brought to me the stones of some fruit, which had evidently been rolled in the sea; these stones he found lying in a heap in the nest, and they are now in my possession.” The bird sent to me by Mr. Gregory is rather larger, but bears a general resemblance to the Chlamydera maculata, being spotted all over like that species ; but it differs in the guttations of the upper surface being of a larger size and much more distinct, in the abdomen being buff, and in the shafts of the primaries being of a richer yellow. In all probability the specimen is a female ; for it is entirely destitute of the beautiful lilaceous mark seen in the males only of C. maculata and C. nuchalis. Since Mr. Gregory discovered this interesting bird, Mr. Stuart, as all the world knows, has crossed the continent of Australia from Adelaide to the Victoria River; and that he met with this bird in some part of bis journey is shown by his having kindly left at my house the head of a male adorned with fine lilaceous feathers at the back ee neck, Hse Cai chalis and C. maculata. Waving seen no more than this head of a male, the remaining portion of my figure of that sex is imaginary; at the same time, judging from analogy and the close See of the bird to C. maculata, | may venture to predict that my delineation of it is not far wrong. The eee last mentioned is confined to New South Wales, Queensland, and the south-eastern portion of Australia; the C. guttata, on the other hand, was discovered more than two thousand miles to the westward ; the two species must there- fore be regarded as representatives of each other in the sO ey Se mm ey which is confirmed by neither of them having yet been found in the intermediate country of Sou Australia. Of the very remarkable genus to which these birds belong, we now oo co very Set species, viz. Chlamydera nuchalis, C. maculata, C. guttata, and C. cerviniventris, all of valtulh are Dea Australia. That they are intimately allied to Ptilonorhynchus on the one hand, ania Sericulus on oe other, is very evident from the similarity in their structure, and from the circumstance of the members ol the three genera constructing the wonderfully curious bowers described in my sean ol each Teor we have yet to learn whether the Cat Bird (4iluredus) has a similar habit; I think it likely that this ee oe the case, although we find in that form a departure from those of the other members of this singular family. The figures are of the natural size. NN S SS S , S S 5 ° bf 4 j } i mag 4 5 3 + c OP) RO" (WNILTTIN Dy HAVIN} UU os Pee aT dot — Pe ya CHLAMYDERA C ERVINIVENTRIS, Gowa. Fawn-breasted Bower-bird. Chlamydera cerviniventris, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., part xviii, p. 201. Ir any one circumstance more than another would tend to hand down the name of the author of the “ Birds of Australia” to posterity, it would be the discovery and the publication of the singular habits of the Bower-birds. In figuring and describing, then, an additional species of this group of birds, I feel that I am presenting to the notice of the ornithological world another of the most interesting birds with which we are acquainted. The discovery of the present species is due to Mr. John MacGillivray, who procured a specimen at Cape York, secured its curious bower, and transmitted both to the British Museum. The two formerly known and nearly allied species being both conspicuously adorned with a lovely frill of liliaceous feathers at the nape of the neck, I naturally supposed that the same kind of ornament would be found in all the species; but it appears that such is not the case, for there is not a trace of it in any of the examples of C. cerviniventris [have yet seen; and I believe some of them are very old birds. In size this species is rather larger than C. maculata, or almost intermediate between that species and C. nuchalis; it has also a similar character of markings on the back, but the brown spots are neither so large, so round, nor so deeply coloured: the distinguishing feature of the present species is its rich, uniformly-coloured, buff under surface, a feature which does not exist either in the C. maculata or C. nuchalis. The bower differs very remarkably from those of the other two species; it is about 13 inches long and 10 or 11 inches high; its walls, which are very thick, are nearly upright, or but little inclining towards each other at the top, so that the passage through is very narrow. ‘This elevated structure, which is formed of fine twigs, is placed on a very thick plat- furm of thicker twigs, nearly 4 feet in length and almost as much in breadth: here and there a small snail- shell or berry is dropped in the way of decoration. The following note relative to this bird is extracted from Mr. MacGillivray’s ‘* Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake :”’— “Tyo days before we left Cape York, I was told that some Bower-birds had been seen in a thicket or patch of low scrub, half a mile from the beach; and after a long search I found a recently-constructed bower, 4 feet long and 18 inches high, with some fresh berries lying upon it. The bower was situated near the border of the thicket, the bushes composing which were seldom more than 10 feet high, growing in smooth sandy soil without grass. «Next morning I was landed before daylight, and proceeded to the place in company with Paida, taking with us a large board on which to carry off the bower as a specimen. I had great difficulty in inducing my friend to accompany me, as he was afraid of a war party of Gomokudins, which tribe had lately given notice that they were coming to fight the Evans Bay people. However, I promised to protect him, and loaded one barrel with ball, which gave him increased confidence; still he insisted upon carrying a large bundle of spears and a throwing-stick. «While watching in the scrub, I caught several glimpses of the ¢ewnga (the native name) a it darted through the bushes in the neighbourhood of the bower, announcing its presence by an occasional loud churr-r-r, and imitating the notes of various other birds, especially the Leathenhead: I never before met with a more wary bird ; and, for a long time, it enticed me to follow it to a short Gist then flying off and alighting on the bower it would deposit a berry or two, run through and be off again Delome I could reach the spot. All this time it was impossible to get a shot. At length, just as my patience was becoming exhausted, I saw the bird enter the bower and disappear, when I fired at random through the twigs, for- tunately with effect. So closely had we concealed ourselves latterly, co so silent had we been, that a kangaroo, while feeding, actually hopped up within fifteen yards, UNgon scons of our preeaee a use e My Bower-bird proved to be a new species, since described by Mr. Gould as Chlamydera cerviniventris ; anc the bower is exhibited in the British Museum.” When Mr. MacGillivray speaks of the bird alighting on the top of the bower, Ce mean on the plat- form, as, from the fineness of the twigs of which the bower itself is constructed, with the weaker ends up- wards, they could not support the weight of the bird. each feather of the back and wings margined and marked at the tip with buffy Upper surface brown, a a 1 white ; throat striated with greyish brown and buff; under surface of the shoulder, abdomen, thighs, anc Deis ¢ under tail-coverts light pure fawn-colour. The front figure is of the size of life. ll et lith I 5 TTT aA Ty IYI} UU any TICS = “ef )o* S A I Se er Saat eee SPHECOTHERES FLAVIVENTRIS, Gouia. Yellow-bellied Sphecotheres. Sphecotheres flaviventris, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., 1849, p. 111. By the discovery of another species of this form on the north-eastern coast of Australia, we know that the fauna of that country is graced by at least two well-defined species of the genus, namely the §. Australis and the present bird, which may always be distinguished from its near ally by the beautiful jonquil-yellow of its under surface. Mr. MacGillivray informs me that it is a very common bird in the neighbourhood of Cape York, where he daily observed it either in pairs or in small parties of three or four individuals, which were generally very shy and difficult of approach. It frequents the open forest land in company with the Tropidorhynchus argenticeps, and resorts to the branches for its food, which consists of fruit of various kinds, such as figs, &c. His specimens were procured by keeping himself carefully concealed beneath one of its favourite feeding trees and watching until an opportunity offered of getting a shot. He once saw several nests which he had no doubt belonged to this species, nearly all of which were built among the top- most branches of very large gum-trees, which he could not induce the natives to attempt to climb; a de- serted nest was however within reach, being placed on an overhanging branch not more than twenty feet from the ground; it measured about a foot in diameter, and was composed of small sticks lined with finer ones. As is the case with the other members of the genus, the sexes offer a marked difference in colour. The male has the crown of the head and cheeks glossy black ; orbits, and a narrow space leading to the nostrils naked, and of a light buffy yellow, or flesh-colour ; all the upper surface, wing-coverts, outer webs of the secondaries, and a patch on either side of the chest, olive-green; chin, chest, abdomen and flanks beautiful yellow ; vent and under tail-coverts white; primaries and inner webs of secondaries black, edged with grey; tail black, the external web and the apical half of the internal web of the outer feather on each side white; the apical half of the second feather on each side white; the next, or third, on each side with a large spot of white at the tip; bill black; feet flesh-colour. The female is striated on the head with brown and whitish; has the upper surface olive-brown ; the wing- feathers narrowly edged with greenish grey; the under surface white, with a conspicuous stripe of brown down the centre of each feather; and the vent and under tail-coverts white, without striz. The Plate represents the two sexes of the natural size. = haa ASEM N ESL ON eR eis POMATORHINUS RUFICEPS, tart. Chestnut-crowned Pomatorhinus. Pomatorhinus ruficeps, Hartl. in Cabanis’ Journ. fiir Orne, yoleip, 21—lihy Mag. de Zool. 1852, p. 316. Ar the period of my visit to South Australia (1838) the colony w as in its infancy, and the city of Adelaide a chaotic jumble of sheds and mud huts, with trees growing here and there in the newly marked-out streets and squares. Among these trees Parrakeets of various kinds, and Honey-eaters still more numerous, were busily occupied in search of food or otherwise engaged; the former principally among the Eucalypti, while an the latter paid their devoirs to the Banksie: here and there also might be seen groups of newly-arrived , emigrants, both English and Irish, who had chosen this distant country for their future home; groups of Germans, too, whose fatherland no longer offered opportunities for enterprise, were dotted about the country V Ai busily engaged in constructing their little villages and getting their gardens under cultivation. It was one A of these German emigrants, whose name I have heard, but which I now forget, who, inspired by the works of nature with which he was so profusely surrounded, employed some of his leisure hours in collecting the novel ornithological forms which came under his notice and transmitting them to the Museum at Bremen. eh Among the birds so collected and transmitted was the present new and very beautiful Pomatorhinus, the discovery of which has both surprised and gratified me: to me, indeed, as the author of the « Birds of ) Australia,” it is of especial interest ; and not the less so from the singular circumstance that it should have escaped the researches of Sir George rey, Captain Sturt, and every other person who has attended to ornithological science since the establishment of the colony ; a very fine species it certainly is, and so pre- cisely does it accord in form with the other Australian members of the genus, that, had it been shown me without its habitat being mentioned, I should undoubtedly have named Australia as the country to which it Ry belonged. Dr. Hartlaub of Bremen, to whom among many other favours I am indebted for the loan of the a specimen from which my figure is taken, has given a description of this species, and assigned it the specific appellation of ruficeps in the first volume of Cabanis’ “Journal ftir Ornithologie” above quoted, with the following remarks, which I beg to transcribe :— “Of this fine and_ typical species the Bremen Collection received two examples, scarcely differing in colour, in a collection of South Australian birds sent from Adelaide. It is remarkable that the bird escaped the researches of Mr. Gould and his collectors, and one cannot help imagining that it must have recently arrived from some part of the interior of the country, and accompanied other stragglers towards the coast. “In size and colour P. ruficeps is more nearly allied to P. superciliosus than to any other, but it differs from that species in the brown-red colour of the head, in the white bars on the wings, and in the black mark which separates the reddish-brown of the flanks from the white of the breast. In our two specimens the sexes have not been ascertained ; one of them is rather less brilliantly coloured than the other.” Crown of the head and nape chestnut- or brown-red, bounded below by a conspicuous line of white ; lores blackish-brown ; behind the eye and ear-coverts brown; upper part of the back and wing-coverts grey, each feather with a dark brown centre, giving those parts a mottled appearance ; lower part of the back and rump pure dark grey; greater and lesser wing-coverts and secondaries tipped with white; throat, breast and centre of the abdomen white; flanks reddish-brown, separated from the white of the abdomen by a stripe of black ; under tail-coverts brown, spotted with greyish-white ; four central tailfeatheys dark oa indistinctly rayed with black; the three outer feathers on each side brown, largely tipped with pure white ; bill and feet blackish horn-colour, the base of the mandibles lighter. ft Le ~ as Cy The figures are of the size of life. TO RNAI DRA TT NY | ESO ry as sey UINHLUT|ATI ALT ATT TATA TTI ALT {11 a " 7 y i Sh API ENG (2 a Pea BOP. = RAEN SE amas eee FRE army es PTILOTIS CASSIDIX, Jara. Helmeted Honey-eater. Ptilotis cassidix, Jard. in Proc. of Zool. Soc., 1866, p. 558. Wuite on a visit to Scotland in the autumn of the year 1866, my friend Sir William Jardine sent to me in the Highlands a well-executed drawing, made by his daughter, Mrs. Strickland, of a bird which he believed to be new to science, and which had been obtained by him in Edinburgh from among a collection of ordinary Australian species. On inspecting the drawing, I at once perceived that Sir William was right in his conjecture, and that the bird was not only new, but one of the finest species of the genus Ptilotis yet discovered. Subsequently the original specimen was sent to me to be exhibited at the December meeting of the Zoological Society of London; and the name of Péilotis cassidiv was assigned to it. Almost simultaneously with the arrival of the above and a second example in Edinburgh, others were transmitted to London; the latter were obtained at Western-Port Bay, near Port Phillip Heads, m the colony of Victoria; and now that the bird is figured, and the characters by which it may be distinguished from its nearest ally (the Pé/otis auricomis) are pointed out, we shall not, I trust, long remain ignorant of its habits and economy. The P. cassidiw differs from P. auricomis in its much larger size, in the dark olive-black colouring of its upper surface, wings, and tail, in the greater amount of black surrounding the eye, in the erect tuft of wax- yellow feathers on the forehead, in all but the four central tail-feathers being tipped with white, and in the chin and centre of the throat being black or black interspersed with light yellow. This I am sorry to say is all I have to communicate respecting a species which must hereafter be placed in our museums at the head of the genus Ptilotis, the members of which are nearly as numerous as the various kinds of Hucalypti, upon the flowers of which they mainly subsist, and with which their yellow ear- tufts vie in beauty of colouring. The following is a description and admeasurement of one of my own specimens, which does not materially differ from that exhibited at the meeting of the Zoological Society above alluded to. Raised tuft of feathers on the forehead, crown, nape, breast, and under surface wax-yellow ; cheeks and ear-tufts rich yellow; lores, sides of the face, and ear-coverts jet-black ; all the upper surface, wings, and tail olive-black ; primaries and lateral tail-feathers fringed with wax-yellow ; all but the four central tail- feathers tipped with yellowish-white ; bill black ; feet bluish. Total length of the male 8+ inches; bill 3; wing 4+; tail 43; tarsi 1. The admeasurements of the female are considerably less. In some specimens I find the black of the throat interspersed with yellow ; these I suspect are females, and I also believe that this sex, like the young birds, bas the upper surface more or less tinged with wax-yellow. The figure is rather less than the natural size. 4 | SO 7 \ [LO MLS FASCIOGULARI S54 Could Okie AIZEN rl - = NS LE EN AR NI er Snare LLANES RW AE YOR Be my ae PTILOTIS FASCIOGULARIS, Gowa. Fasciated Honey-eater. Ptilotis fasciogularis, Gould in Proc, of Zool. Soc., part xix. p. 285. ee Ir is pleasing to record for the first time a new species so well marked as the present, and differing as it does from all other members of its genus, in the distinct bars of pale yellow and brown which occupy the throat and fore part of the neck, whence its specific name of fasciogularis ; perhaps fasciigularis would have been more correct, and if such should be the opinion of learned grammarians, I would suggest that the latter spelling be the one adopted. All the specimens of this new bird that have notice were sent to me a few years since by Mr. Str lying off the eastern coast of Australia, to the northw Mangrove Island, Moreton Bay, written on the label yet come under my ange, who collected them on the low swampy islands ard of Moreton Bay. Some of them have the locality of s attached to them: it would seem then that the islands lying off this coast generally are their proper home. ascertained by actual dissection, and the only differ members of the genus, in the smaller size of the fem For a Pvilotis this is a large and robust specie nearest affinity. My specimens comprise examples of both sexes, ence between them consists, as is usual with the other ale, their markings and colouring being alike. 8, equalling in size the P. chrysotis, to which it bears the All the upper surface, wings and tail olive-brown, the feathers of the head and back with darker centres, PI g and the primaries and tail-feathers narrowly margined externally with w ax-yellow ; lores and a streak down the side of the head from the posterior angle of the eye blackish-brown ; ear-coverts pale yellow; on each side of the neck a patch of yellowish-white ; feathers of the throat brownish-black, each bordered with pale yellow, presenting a fasciated appearance ; breast blackish-brown ; under surface striated with brown and buff, becoming paler towards the vent; irides lead-colour ; bill bluish-black, with a yellow gape; feet black. The figures are of the natural size. J MM ILD Ih yy IN J Wy a) Ves (ould. S Gould éHCRichter: del et bith Walter LU? HNL AIL | Araya a " "i y y PT! LOTI S N OTATA, Gould. Yellow-spotted Honey-eater. Ptilotis notata, Gould in Ann. and Mag. Hist. 1867, 3rd ser. vol. xx. p. 269. Tus species of P#/otis is a native of the Cape-York peninsula, where it appears to be tolerably common. It belongs to a section of the genus of which three or four species are known ; of these, the largest is the P. cry- sotis of New South Wales, and the smallest the bird to which I have assigned the name of P. gracilis ; all three are distinguished by possessing disproportionately large bills. The fourth species of the section is the P. similis of Hombron and Jacquinot, from the Aru Islands, a bird which, in the size of its body, resembles the P. notata, but has a more lengthened patch of yellow behind the ears and a much shorter and stouter bill; the P. semzs also differs from all the others in the profusion of its rump-feathers, the dark bases of which show conspicuously in certain positions. The late Mr. John Macgillivray brought a Pzidotis from Dunck Island which so nearly resembles the P. notata that, although its wings are somewhat shorter, I believe them to be identical. Of the habits and economy of these birds nothing is known ; and it would be interesting to ascertain upon what particular trees they obtain their food. On the southern coast of Aus- tralia the members of the genus P/otis frequent the Lucalypti which there abound; whether any of that class of trees also exist on the Cape-York peninsula, or on Dunck and the Aru Islands, I know not, but I may be reasonably inferred that some of them do. I have lately received specimens, through John Jardine, Esq., from the Cape-York district of Queensland ; and Gilbert collected a bird very nearly allied, if not the same as this, at Brown’s Lagoon, on the 20th of December, 1844, when travelling with Leichardt from Moreton Bay to Port Essington. The following is a copy of my original description as published in the ‘ Annals and Magazine of Natural History’ above quoted, to which I have nothing to add :— «Crown and all the upper surface greenish olive ; lores, a line beneath the eye, and the anterior portion of the ear-coverts brownish black ; from the angle of the mouth a pale-yellow stripe ; posterior part of the ear-coverts pale yellow, assuming the form of a nearly round spot ; under surface pale greyish olive, obscurely streaked with pale grey down the throat and breast ; bill black, with a thick fleshy yellow gape; legs bluish. “Total length 6+ inches, bill 15, wing 3$, tail QZ, tarsi 4.7 The Plate represents two birds, supposed to be one of each sex, of the natural size. — pe pa aE Say (wD Vs 2 NAAN) Oe SALES oe SO IN SS Mallar i i | a S a Ee wn S == el UIA TNIT 2 my INALINUUT em 4 5 5 aay =~ Te PTILOTIS FILIGERA, Gowda. Streaked Honey-eater. Ptilotis filigera, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., December 10, 1850. AusTratta is evidently the head-quarters of this genus of birds, inasmuch as I have already figured no less than fifteen species; and here we have another quite distinct from either of them, but which is, perhaps, more nearly allied to P. wnicolor than to any other. The P. filigera is one of the novelties which rewarded the researches of Mr. James Wilcox, who obtained two examples among some mangroves at Cape York, where he observed it in company with another species of the same genus. These specimens are now in the possession of the Zoological Society of London, to whom they were presented by the late Captain Owen Stanley, R.N. Although on the whole a dull- coloured species, it is rendered interestingly different from all its congeners by the thread-like streak beneath the ear-coverts, and by the small strize which decorate the back of the neck and the upper part of the mantle. Upper surface, wings and tail rich olive-brown, with numerous small marks of greyish white on the apical portion of the nuchal feathers ; the wing-coverts broadly and the remainder of the feathers narrowly edged with brownish buff; from the gape beneath the eye a streak of white ; ear-coverts blackish grey; from the centre of the lower angle of the ear-coverts a very narrow streak of silky yellow, which proceeding back- wards joins the line of white from beneath the eye; throat brownish grey ; under surface sandy buff, the feathers of the breast and the middle of the abdomen with lighter centres ; bill olive-black ; naked space beneath the eye yellow ; legs and feet slate-colour. The young are destitute of the white marks on the nape, and have the under surface more rufous and without the lighter centres. re ee ES || v ND | RD NS SEAN SP SALES. MES JB GS) SE LINO II 5 INMMTH HUN mi TINT 3 HIYINN ULLAL gi GN pe Ss PTILOTIS COCKERELLL, Gowa. Cockerell’s Honey-eater. Ptilotis Cockerelh, Gould in Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 4th ser., vol. iv. p. 109. Ir is but an act of justice that at least one of the birds of Australia should be named after Mr. James Cockerell, inasmuch as he is a native-born Australian, bas collected very largely in the northern parts of that great country, and discovered more than one new species, among which must be enumerated the present very interesting bird. Mr. Cockerell informs me that it frequents the forests of the little-explored parts of the vape-York peninsula, often in company with the Blue Mountain-Lory and the Yellow-spotted Honey-eater (Putlotis notata), to which latter bird it assimilates in its actions and habits ; 1t appears to be most numerous in the neighbourhood of Somerset in October, November, and December, when the trees are in blossom, and is tolerably common in the districts above mentioned. When chacterizing it in the volume of the ‘Annals and Magazine of Natural History’ above referred to, I remarked that “ although I have placed this beautiful new species in the genus P#é/otis, 1 am by no means certain that I am correct in so doing ; for the bird possesses characters which ally it to at least three genera, namely Stigmatops, Meliphaga, and Ptilotis, while it also possesses characters peculiar to itself of almost sufficient importance to demand a distinct generic appellation. It somewhat resembles in its colouring the Pélotis polygramma of Mr. G. R. Gray (vide Proc. Zool. Soc., 1861, pp. 429, 434).” The male has the fore part of the head grey, merging into the brown of the upper surface, which has a mottled appearance, owing to each feather being of a darker hue in the centre; lesser wing-coverts dark brown, with a spot of dull white at the tip of each, forming a spotted band across the shoulder; greater coverts and primaries dark brown margined with wax-yellow ; tail brown, the lateral feathers margined ex- ternally at the base with wax-yellow; ear-coverts silvery, with a few of the anterior feathers pale yellow, and a posterior tuft of rich gamboge-yellow ; throat and breast clothed with narrow lanceolate white feathers, a few on the sides of the chest tinged with deep yellow; abdomen dull greyish white, changing to a creamy tint towards the vent ; bill black ; feet horn-colour. The female in colouring differs only in the spots at the tips of the lesser wing-coverts being nearly ob- solete, but, as is the case with many other species of the family, is much smaller than the male, as will be seen by the following admeasurements :— Male.—Total length 5 inches, bill 1, wing 34, tail 23, tarsi 2. Female.—Total length 4 inches, bill 3, wing 24, tail 22, tars! =. The figures are of the natural size. Lid J marede 1k Walton imp 7 oMOm Ae Of TROPIDORHYNCHUS BUCEROIDES. Helmeted Honey-eater. Philedon buceroides, Swains. Anim. in Menag., p. 325. Tropidorhynchus buceroides, Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 125 Tropidorhynchus, sp. 2.—Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av. p. 390, Tropidorhynchus, sp. 9. : : Noruine is more evident than that every peculiar kind of vegetation is accompanied by a corresponding peculiarity of animal life; be that life mammal, bird or insect. In no country are the trees and general vegetation of so peculiar and so marked a character as in Australia; in proof of which I may cite as instances in point, the Ewcalypti and Banksie. These trees are frequented by a numerous family of birds called Honey-eaters, among the species of which a general similarity of structure reigns, but certain differences in form occur, corresponding in a great measure with the different botanical groups among which they obtain their subsistence; thus, the large Eucalypti are tenanted by the members of the genera Anthochera, Entomyza, and Tropidorhynchus, while the smaller species are resorted to by the Ptilotes, Glyciphile, Melithreptes, &c., and the Banksie@ afford shelter and food to Acanthogenys and the true Meliphage. All these birds have lengthened tongues with filamentous brush-like tips, extremely small stomachs, and live partly on the pollen and honey which they extract from the flower-cups and partly on the insects attracted by the nectar. The bird here represented belongs to a genus the members of which are widely dispersed over Australia wherever the Kucalypt: abound. It may be regarded as the representative on the north coast of the Zrop:- dorhynchus corniculatus of the southern part of the country, for it was in the Cape York Peninsula that it was obtained; not, however, by Mr. MacGillivray, who, I believe, mistook it for the common species, and did not procure examples ; which is much to be regretted, since the bird is so extremely rare in our collections that I beg to direct attention to it, in the hope that, should any other expeditions visit the northern shores of Australia, so fine a species might not be overlooked. The Tropidorhynchus Buceroides differs very considerably from the J. corniculatus and every other Australian species ; these differences, which will be readily seen by reference to the accompanying Plate, consist in its much larger size, in the great elevation of the culmen, and in the crown of the head being clothed with feathers. Feathers of the crown and nape brown, with pale greyish or silvery edges ; all the upper surface, wing's and tail light brown; feathers of the under surface lighter brown with a silky lustre, those of the throat with darker centres; face leaden-black ; bill black ; feet blackish-brown. The figure is of the natural size. The beautiful plant is the Stenocarpus Cunninghami. ER BE | “ Le oe GH NE IL IATHOENHUTTFATTA ATT pry 2 any IH|NNI| NII St! ATO Ae EN La aS NECTARINIA AUSTRALIS, Gowa Australian Sun-bird, | Nectarina Australis, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., July 23, 1850.—Jard. Cont Orn. 1850 | Terridirri, Aborigines of Cape York. I wait with great pleasure the discovery of a true Nec tarma in Australia, a discovery which, however, might have been expected, when we consider how short is the distance between the northern part of that country, and Timor and New Guinea, where these birds are known to abound. species from those islands, and find it different from the whole of them. It offers a very close alliance to the WV. Jrenata of the Celebes ; it will be found . > . . . . 2 however, to differ from that species in its considerably larger size conspicuous, and in the straighter form of the bill; I have therefore thought it but right to assign to it the name of Australis, as indicative of the only country in which it has yet been found. For my first know- ledge of this species I am indebted to the researches of my late much-valued friend Captain Ince, R.N., who, while attached to H.M.S. Fly, paid unceasing attention to the natur I have carefully compared the present bird with all the , in the mark above the eye being less al history of the various parts of Australia visited by that vessel, and who, since his recent appointment to the command of H.M.S. Pilot in the China \ Seas, has paid equal attention to the ornithology of that region; but a short time has elapsed since his first interesting consignment reached me, and within the last few days (Feb. 19, 1851) the melancholy intelli- \ gence of his premature death has communicated a degree of grief to his friends which will be participated \ in by all who take an interest in the welfare of a most excellent officer and an ardent lover of natural || \; history. “This pretty Sun-bird,” says Mr. MacGillivray, ‘appears to be distributed along the whole of the north- east coast of Australia, the adjacent islands, and the whole of the islands in Torres Straits. Although thus generally distributed, it is nowhere numerous, seldom more than a pair being seen together. Its habits resemble those of the Pé2/otes, with which it often associates, but still more closely to those of JZyzomela obscura; like those birds, it resorts to the flowering trees to feed upon the insects which frequent the blossoms, especially those of a species of Sciadophyllum: this singular tree, whose range on the north-east coast and that of the Australian Sun-bird appears to be the same, is furnished with enormous spike-like racemes of small scarlet flowers, which attract numbers of insects, and thus furnish an abundant supply of food to the present bird and many species of the Meliphagide. Its note, which is a sharp, shrill ery, pro- longed for about ten seconds, may be represented by ‘ Tsee-tsee-tsee-tss-ss-ss-ss.. The male appears to be of a pugnacious disposition, as I have more than once seen it drive away and pursue a visitor to the same | tree; perhaps, however, this disposition is only exhibited during the breeding season. I found its nest on several occasions, as will be seen by the following extracts from my note-book :— “Nov, 29, 1849. Cape York. Found two nests of Nectarinia to-day: one on the margin of a scrub, the other in a clearing. The nests were pensile, and in both cases were attached to the twig of a prickly bush : one, measuring seven inches in length, was of an elongated shape, with a rather large opening on one side close to the top; it was composed of shreds of Melaleuca bark, a few leaves, various fibrous substances, rejectamenta of caterpillars, &c., and lined with the silky cotton of the Bombawv dustrahs so common in the neighbourhood. The other, which was similar in structure, contained a young bird, and an egg with a chick almost ready for hatching. ‘The female was seen approaching with a mouthful of flies to feed the young, and the male was not far off. The egg was pear-shaped, generally and equally mottled with obscure dirty brown on a greenish grey ground. “Dec. 4th.—Mount Ernest, Torres Straits. A nest of Mectarinia found to-day differs from those seen at Cape York in having over the entrance a projecting fringe-like hood Sota of ‘be panicles of a deli- | cate grass-like plant. It contained two young birds, and I saw the mother visit them See with an interval of ten minutes between; she glanced past like an arrow, perched on the nest at once, clinging to the lower side of the entrance, and looked round very watchfully for a few seconds before feeding the young, after which she disappeared as suddenly as she had arrived.” : The male has the crown of the head and upper surface olive-green ; over and under the eye two incon: spicuous marks of yellow; throat and chest steel-blue ; remainder of the under surface fine yellow; irides chestnut; bill and feet black. The female differs in having the whole of the under surface yellow, without a trace of the steel-blue gorget so conspicuous in the male. The Plate represents two males and a female of the natural size. Z,( DS ai \[¢ MIDE ee Mould and C Feeder dl tobi W'S ALBOCULARIS, Goudd 7 +9: Wy fon, LY Lilburn wer A Watha7, £779 {AVVVULLQULLL) LULU AGTOHOVITGTLTTITTA ANNI TUTTE a "i as yi , MEISE A WOM A Oe ZLOSTEROPS ALBOGULARIS, Gouwia. White-breasted Zosterops. Zosterops albogularis, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., part iv. p. 75; and in Syn. Birds of Aust., pl. . fig. 2.— Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 198, Zosterops, sp. 6. : Tue members of the genus Zos¢erops have a most extensive range over the old world. its own peculiar species, and so have Southern Africa, Japan, and China; but the species are most numerous are Australia, Lord Howe’s and Norfolk Islands, and the great Papuan group, including New Caledonia and the adjacent islands: in all these localities they occur in abundance. Every island appears to have its own particular species, and some of them two or three: Lord Howe’s Island Ines two, and in Norfolk and Philip Islands two others occur. On the continent of Australia there are at least three or four very distinct species, all different from those of the islands, Tasmania excepted. Of all these numerous species, the present bird is one of the largest ; it was characterized and figured by me as long since India proper has countries in which the as January 1837 ; its native country is Norfolk Island, whence specimens have been sent from time to time ever since it was formed into a penal settlement. As is the case with the other members of the genus, there appears to be but little difference in the outward characters of the sexes, all the specimens that have reached this country being very similar. All the upper surface and wing-coverts greenish olive, strongly tinged with chestnut on the back ; wings and tail brown, margined with olive-green ; a broad zone of white feathers surrounds each eye, bounded in front and below with black ; throat and centre of the abdomen white; flanks pale chestnut, under tail-coverts pale yellow ; bill and legs lead colour. The figures are the size of life. = 4 TT 3 2 ll om 4 A ALINUUI ZOSTEROPS TENUIROSTRIS, Gow. Slender-billed Zosterops. Zosterops tenwirostris, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., part iv. p. 76, and in Syn. Birds of Aust., pl. . fig. 1. lateralis, Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 198, Zosterops, sp. 5. Tue specific name of ¢enwrostris has been given to this bird from the circumstance of its bill being some- what prolonged when compared with the bills of the other members of the genus ; not only is its bill more lengthened, but its body is also more slender and elegant in contour than that of any of its congeners. Its native country is Norfolk Island, whence all the specimens I have seen have been forwarded to this country, by way of New South Wales. It is a very distinct and well-defined species, and is of large size when compared with most of its near allies. Of its habits, manners, and mode of life nothing has yet been recorded, which is much to be regretted, as they might present some peculiarities consequent upon the particular character of the vegetation of this remote island, which differs very considerably from that of Australia. I fear the time is gone by when we might expect to glean any information respecting it from some intelligent Government officer stationed in this famed Paradise of climate and vegetation ; it can scarcely be supposed that the Pitcairn Islanders, who now inhabit it, can have contracted a taste for natural history. All the specimens I have seen being similarly coloured, it is believed that the sexes, like those of Zoste- | rops albogularis, do not differ in outward appearance. | Head, all the upper surface, and wing-coverts olive-green, brightest on the head and upper tail-coverts ; WHY Y wings and tail brown, margined with olive-green ; throat yellow, stained with red in the centre; centre of the abdomen and under tail-coverts pale yellow; flanks olive-brown; bill and legs light brown, inclining to lead-colour; eye surrounded by a narrow zone of white feathers, bounded below by a line of blackish brown. The figures are of the natural size. 5 4 3 2 = = = omy J oD Tw} ZOSTEROPS STRENUUS, Gowda Robust Zosterops. Zosterops strenuus, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., July 24, 1855. Tue present new species is the largest member yet discovered of a group of birds comprising numerous species, aoe which are oo generally dispersed over the old world from India to Australia ; Aone of the islands of the South Pacific are also tenanted by their own peculiar species ; Norfolk Island claims two which have not been found elsewhere, and we now find that Lord Howe’s Island, although but scantily supplied with vegetation, is not devoid of bird-life even of the great order of Insessores, it being inhabited by at least two species of the present genus. Her Majesty’s Ship Herald, commanded by Captain Denham, having paid a visit to this interesting spot in the wide ocean, Mr. MacGillivray had an opportunity of extending his fame as a successful naturalist by securing and sending, with many other interesting objects, an example of each of these species, which I find to be quite different from all others that have come under my notice. The bird here represented is the larger of the two, and its prominent characters consist in its comparatively great size, robust form of body and unusually lengthened and powerful bill; at the same time, in the general style of its colouring, in its snow-white eye-ring, and in all other essential points, it closely agrees with the other species of the genus of which it is a member. The only specimen of this new bird which has yet been transmitted to this country, now forms part of the National Collection, where all the other novelties which may be acquired by Captain Denham’s Expedition will be deposited. Head and upper surface bright olive-green, with a mark of dark grey across the shoulders; wings and tail slaty-brown, margined with greenish-olive ; eyes surrounded by the usual ring of white feathers, beneath which is a narrow line of black ; chin and throat yellow; flanks pale vinaceous-brown ; centre of the abdomen nearly white ; under tail-coverts pale yellow; bill and feet bluish-black. The figures are of the natural size. DE SANS SE SA CENS 7 @ 7 ld and Hl Richion dl cz Inti; [ , Gould if Tedimindd d Walter, PP TNAUUVAQUL UAC GOATTOTET TTT AL TT if ‘ a y I" SN ZOSTEROPS TEPHROPLEURUES, Gowa Grey-breasted Zosterops. Zosterops tephropleurus, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., July 24, 1855. Ar least three species of the genus Zosterops are inhabitants of Australia, all of which have been seen in a state of nature, either by myself or by my collector Mr. Gilbert, and we found that no difference occurred in the plumage, and scarcely any in the size of the sexes: had I not positive evidence of this, as far as regards the Australian species, I should have thought it probable that the two species (the present bird and the Z. s¢renuus) sent from Lord Howe’s Island by Mr. MacGillivray were only different sexes of the same bird, so similarly are they coloured; I feel convinced, however, that such is not the case, and that the -Z. tephropleurus differs from all other known species. In size it rather exceeds the well-known Australian Z. dorsalis, and moreover differs in having a much more robust bill and less highly coloured flanks. Among the many pleasing recollections connected with my explorations in Australia, none are more grateful than those pertaining to this little group of birds, whose pretty cup-shaped nests and spotless blue eggs so vividly reminded me of home, my early life, and the nest and eggs of our own Hedge Accentor. Head and upper surface bright olive-green, with a wash of grey across the shoulders; wings and tail slaty-brown, margined with olive-green; throat dull yellow; around the eyes a circle of white feathers, below which is a mark of black; under surface pale vinaceous-brown, becoming gradually paler on the lower part of the abdomen, and passing into the pale yellow of the under tail-coverts. The figures are of the natural size. 5 Cy —— 3 FS No |— Rte ¥; © PTILORIS VICTORIA, Gould. Victoria Rifle Bird. Ptiloris Victoria, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., 1849, p. 111, Aves, pl. xii. aS Tue discovery of a new and beautiful Rifle bird has enabled me to fulfil a wish I had long entertained, of RS . ~ . . . : dedicating to our most gracious Queen one of the loveliest of the ornithological productions of her anti- podal dominions; and I had therefore no ordinary pleasure in naming the present species /ictorie, as a ave endeared Her Majesty to all classes of her subjects, and as some slight acknowledgment on my part of her just tribute of respect for the many virtues which h kindness and liberality in permitting me to dedicate to her my great work on the ‘ Birds of Australia’ The Priloris Victorie is one of the many novelties which have rewarded the researches of Mr. MacGilli- vray, the able Naturalist of the late expedition of H.M.S. Rattlesnake. The value of its acquisition is greatly enhanced by the notes he has recorded of its habits ; which are particularly interesting to myself, inasmuch as they tend to confirm the opinion I have expressed in the Introduction as to the alliance of the mem- bers of this genus to the Climacteres. The present species is smaller in all its admeasurements than the Ptiloris paradisea, but is still more resplendent in colour; it may be distinguished by the purple of the breast presenting the appearance of a broad pectoral band, bounded above by the scale-like feathers of the throat, and below by the abdominal band of deep oil-green, and also by the broad and much-lengthened flank feathers which show very conspicuously. It appears to be strictly an inhabitant of the north-eastern portion of Australia, and the chain of islands lying between the Barrier Reef and the mainland. The following notes respecting it have been transmitted to me by Mr. MacGillivray :— “This bird was seen by us during the survey of the N.E. coast of Australia on the Barnard Isles, and on the adjacent shores of the mainland at Rockingham Bay, in the immediate vicinity of Kennedy’s first camp. On one of the Barnard Isles (No. III. in lat. 17° 43’ S.) which is covered with dense brush I found the Victoria Rifle Bird (supposed at the time to be the P. paradisea), in considerable abundance. Females and young males were common, but rather shy; however, by sitting down and quietly watching in some favourite locality, one or more would soon alight on a limb or branch, run along it with great celerity, stop abruptly every now and then to thrust its beak under the loose bark in search of insects, and then fly off as suddenly as it had arrived. Occasionally I have seen one anxiously watching me from behind a branch, its head and neck only being visible. At this time (June) the young males were very pugnacious, and upon one occasion three of them were so intent upon their quarrel that they allowed me to approach sufficiently near to kill them all with a single charge of dust shot. The adult males were comparatively rare, always solitary and very shy. I never saw them upon the trees, but only in the thick bushes and masses of climbing plants beneath them; on detecting the vicinity of man they immediately shuffled off among the branches to- wards the opposite side of the thicket and flew off for a short distance. I did not observe on to utter any call or cry; this, however, may have arisen from my attention not having been so sale directed oO them as to the females and young males, which I was more anxious to procure, the very different style of their colouring having led me to believe they were a new species of Pomatorhinus.” The male has the general plumage rich deep velvety black, glossed on the Ce sides of the neck, chin and breast with plum-colour; feathers of the head and throat small, scale-like, and of a shining, metallic bronzy green; feathers of the abdomen very much developed, of the same hue: as the upper surface, but each feather so broadly margined with rich deep olive-green, that the Salon, of the basal portion of the feather is hidden, and the olive-green forms a broad abdominal band, which is sly defined above: but irregular below; two centre tail-feathers rich shining metallic green, the remainder deep black ; bill and feet black. ; The female has all the upper surface greyish brown, tinged wae ale: ead and sides : ne fie ee brown, striated with greyish brown; over each eye a superciliary stripe of buff; ea ee a is ferruginous ; chin and throat pale buff; remainder of the under SHULEES, under We ou ee of the inner webs of the quills rich deep reddish buff, each feathien wiih an irregular spot of bro tip, dilated on the flanks into the form of irregular bars ; bill and feet black. The Plate represents two males and a female of the natural size. Ri We yy aS 9 ye f r Ln Fes 45 ah 3 VT myn nyt i | Ty om INTL yO em ace ee PTILORIS MAGNIFICA, Magnificent Rifle Bird. | Le Promefil, Levaill. Ois. de Parad, p. 36. pl. 16. Falemellus magnificus, Vieill. Nouv. Dict. d Hist. N Orn. pt. 11. p. 579. Epimachus magnificus, Cuy. Regn. Anim. pl. 4. fig. 2.—Wagl. Syst. Av. Dieanrem. 272 oll 5, young.—Gray and Mitchell, Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 94.—Less. Traité @’Orn p. 321, Atlas, pl. 74. fig. 1—Hist. Nat. des Ois. de Parad. pls. 32, 33, 34, j | Epimachus paradiseus, Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. i. pl. xxxii. Promerops 4 parures chevelues, Dum. Dict. des Sci. Nat. tom. xliii. p. 367. avec fic, Craspedophora magnifica, G. R. Gray, List of Gen. of Birds, 2nd Edit. [D WS. i at. tom. xxviii. p. 167. pl. G. 30. N 0. 3.—Ib. Ency. Méth. Epimachus, sp. 10.—Less. Cent. Zool. Dp. 22: FSS ee ee Here then we have a third species of Priloris , rendering the ornithology of Australia still more interesting : unlike the P. Victorie, however, this has no claims to novelty, inasmuch as it has nearly fifty years. “It is New Guinea,” says Vieillot, “that country in which are found the most beautiful birds in the world, and the most remarkable for the singularity of their plumage, that is the habitat of this species, one of the richest of its family.” “Tt is still,” says M. Lesson, writing in 1830, “very rarely met with in collections; the individual in the gallery of the Museum (at Paris) was procured in; London, at the sale of Bullock's collection. During our sojourn at New Guinea with the corvette ‘La Coquille,’ we only obtained two mutilated skins; and M. Dumont-Durville, commander of the expedition of the ‘Astrolabe,’ secured only a single skin depr been known to us for ived of its wings and feet, the manner in which they are usually prepared by the natives. It is in the dense and vast forests which surround the harbour of Dorehy in New Guinea, that this fine species resides.” The researches of Mr. MacGillivray and others enable me to state that it also inhabits the north-eastern portion of Australia, a circumstance of no ordinary interest, since besides adding another fine species to the already exceedingly rich fauna of that country, we now know that our museums will ere long be graced with fine and perfect specimens in lieu of the mutilated skins hitherto procurable. We have abundant evidence of its being frequently met with at Cape York, since not only Mr. MacGillivray, but nearly every officer of the “ Rattlesnake ” procured and brought home specimens. The following are Mr. MacGillivray’s notes respecting it :— “This fine Rifle Bird inhabits the densest of the brushes in the neighbourhood of Cape York. The natives are familiar with it under the name of ‘Yagoonya’; the Darnley Islanders also recognized a skin shown them, and described it to be a native of Dowde or the south coast of New Guinea, near Bristow Island. Its cry Is very striking : upon being imitated by man, which may be easily done, the male bird will answer ; it consists of a loud whistle resembling whecoo repeated three times and ending abruptly in a note like who-o-0. Both sexes utter the same note, but that of the male is much the loudest. The old males were generally seen about the tops of the highest trees, where, if undisturbed, they would remain long enough to utter their loud cry two or three times at intervals of from two to five minutes. If a female be near, the male frequently perches on a conspicuous dead twig in a crouching attitude, rapidly opening and closing his wings, the feathers of which by their peculiar form and texture produce a loud rustling noise, which in the comparative stillness of these solitudes may be heard at the distance of a hundred yards, and may be faintly imitated by moving the feathers of a dried skin, The full-plumaged males are much more shy than the females or immature birds. According to the testimony of several of the Cape York natives whom I questioned upon the subject, the P. magnifica breeds in a hollow tree and lays several white eggs. The ovary of a female shot in November, the commencement of the rainy season, contained a very large and nearly completely formed egg. oe “From the shyness of this Rifle Bird, it is difficult to catch more than a passing glimpse of it in the dense brushes which it inhabits; I once, however, saw a female running up the trunk of a tree like a Creeper, and its stomach was afterwards found to be filled with insects only, chiefly ants; while the stomach of a male, shot about the same time, contained merely a few small round berries, the fruit of a tall tree, the botanical name of which is unknown to me.” reve Sineeeen I would here add a note pertaining to the history of the P. paradisea, sent to ea se ge; ke cannot fail to be regarded with interest, as increasing our knowledge of that eo and confirming Mr. MacGillivray’s account of the rustling noise produced by the wings of the P. magnifica. ars to be strictly confined to eastern Australia ; at all events I have not heard . . and ears, of its having been shot or seen to the westward of the dividing rang . ‘i : ce a ee ae ges at a distance of from 90 to 130 miles; its range southward does not extend o have been shot as far north as Wide Bay, but its principal stror ; ‘ ; Ons ains and creeks of the Manning, Hastings, Macleay, The Ptiloris paradisea “ appe during a sojourn of fourteen y which run parallel to the coast farther than Port Stephens; one or tw hold is the large cedar brushes which skirt the mount Clarence, and Richmond rivers, where during the breeding months of November and December Bellinger, the male bird is easily found; at that season 0 Bird from the thickets below to the to selecting a spot where three or four of these trees occur at f the year, as soon as the sun illumines the tops of the trees up rises the Rifle p of some lofty pine, such as the Araucaria Mac. Leayana which there abounds, a about two hundred feet apart; ¢ self and cleaning his feathers, and in utteri which name the bird is known to the native flight a most singular noise, produced by the action of the wings, more nearly resembling that which would be produced by shaking alot of new stiff silk than anything else with which I can compare it. As its short ate wings would indicate, its powers of flight are very limited, and appear to be seldom r purpose than to transport the bird from tree to tree.” slightly tinged with purple; wings dull purplish lways, however, he morning Is then spent in short flights from tree to tree, in sunning him- ig during his short flights a cry resembling the word yass, by g s of the Richmond river; besides this cry it also emits during "i 5 and peculiarly trunc employed for any othe The male has the general plumage deep velvety black, black, glossed with a greenish | » maroins of the feathers; feathers Pesce ag e 1ue on the margins of the feathers ; feathers of the head small, scale-like, and of a shining metallic bronzy green ; a crescent of velvety black, to which succeeds a narrower crescent of shining 5 ous form and feathers » throat similar in form, « Seater cae é of the throat similar in form, and of a shining metallic oil- green, bounded below by yellowish green ; under surface purplish black, the flank-feathers prolonged into a filament reaching beyond the extremity of AY. avo central tail-feathers sinine i i g beyon y of the tail; two central tail-feathers shining metallic green, the remainder ack; irides umber-brown ; feet lead-colour, the soles ochraceous. deep bl surface brown; wing's re ae Sete Bene ae 2 . ; ¢ rown; wings reddish brown, margined with bright rufous ; tail The female has all the upper over each eye a superciliary stripe of buffy white; throat buffy white ; from the lower angle of the / 5 rufous ; breast and under surface buffy, crossed with numerous irregular bill on each side a narrow streak of brown ; bars of dark brown. iy D1. ENE NESTE. : 7 F > : The Plate represents two males and a female of the natural size. SIE MILOP TER S Gould und Rachier, det et bith & WALLACE, Gray Palirianda te Welton LP AJIALSIAL UAT YATGOOTyOUTG TAT vy " ‘ " Mm i SEMIOPTERA WALLACEL, Standard-Wing. Paradisea wallacei, G. R. Gray im Proc. of Zool. Soc., part xxvii. p. 130. Semioptera, G. R. Gray, Jb. a One of the most remarkable Insessorial birds that has been discovered for many years to London by A. R. Wallace, Esq., from the island of Batchian, and to which Mr. ( generic appellation of Semioptera. How much gratified Mr. Wallace must hav form first met his gaze! and how enthusiastically does is surrounded !—determining to keep his discover is the one just sent G. R. Gray has given the e been when this remarkable he write on this and the other objects with which he y secret, yet not resisting the temptation to make it known when next he writes home. As many of my readers may not be acquainted with the position of the island of Batchian, I may state that it is one of the Moluccas, and, according to Guthrie’s ‘ Geography,’ ‘produces cloves, is very fruitful, and belongs to the Dutch ; longalon eben 5 Now, if there be one nation which has paid more attention to the natur al productions of their foreign possessions than it is the Dutch: how, then, is it that so conspicuous a bird as the Semioptera st Holland, and made known by Temminck or Schlegel? With wh arrival have been hailed at their great Leyden Museum! proceed to give a copy of Mr. Wallace’s letter to Mr. S discovery :— any other, nould not have been sent to at pleasure and enthusiasm would its Thus much by way of prelude: I shall now . Stevens, in which he announces his interesting * Batchian, Moluccas, Oct. 29, 1858. “Here I have been as yet only five days; but from the nature of the country, and what I have already done, I am inclined to think it may prove one of the best localities I have yet visited. Birds are as yet very scarce; but I still hope to get a fine collection, though I believe I have already the finest and most wonderful bird in the island. I had a good mind to keep it a secret, but I cannot resist telling you. Ihave anew Burd of Paradise! of a new genus !! quite unlike anything yet known, very curious and very hand- some!!! When I can get a couple of pairs, I will send them overland, to see what a new Bird of Paradise will really fetch. Had I seen the bird in Ternate, I should never have believed it came from /ere, so far out of the hitherto supposed region of the Paradiseide. 1 consider it the greatest discovery I have yet made; and it gives me hopes of getting other species in Gilolo and Ceram. There is also here a species of Monkey—much further eastwards than in any other island; so you see this is a most curious locality, combining forms of the East and West of the Archipelago, yet with species peculiar to itself. It also differs from all the other Moluccas in its geological formation, containing iron, coal, copper, and gold, with a glorious forest vegetation, and fine large mountain streams: it is a continent in miniature. ee Dateh are working the coals; and there is a good road to the mines, which gives one easy access to the interior forests. “T can do nothing at drawing birds, but send you a horrible sketch of my discovery, that you may not die of curiosity. I am told the wet season here is terrible, and that it begins in December; so I shall pro- bably have to leave then.” eae The sketch alluded to in the above extract having been placed in Mr. G. R. Gray’s hands for examination and comparison with other known species, the following notes of that gentleman relative to it were read to the meeting (of the Zoological Society, March 22nd, 1859) :— = eae “This bird proves, as Mr. Wallace remarks in his letter, to be a new form : It has, Wee oS 1e ao coverts of each wing, two long shafts, both of which are webbed on Se at the a : : is a ae sion of these peculiar winged standards that induces me to ores os a the ee ee ede Semioptera ; and I further add the provisional specific name of wallacit, which appellation thin ey e due to Mr. Wallace for the indefatigable energy he has hitherto shown in the advancement of ornithologica - > : she alities rarely if ever travelled by naturalists. and entomological knowledge, by visiting localities rarely if ever trave eee On the 28th of June 1859, in the absence of Mr. G. R. Gray from London, I exhibited to the meeting al Society, held in the evening of that day, some specimens of both sexes of this singular bird of the Zoologic ; hile I ; which had just arrived, and took the opportunity of remarking that, while I considered Mr. Gray right in F . nd Re thic ° a Ee 101 1 : os giving it a new generic appellation, the family to which Mr. ee aoe assigned it was not, in my opinion, the right one. This beautiful bird is not indeed a Bird of Paradise if we regard the Paradisea apoda and t very closely allied to Prdloris, so nearly so AS) P. Papuana as typical examples of that group ; it 1s im tac yf Closhy indeed, as scarcely to be separable from that form; for on comparing it with the well-known Rifle-bird of Australia, Ptiloris paradisea, it will be seen that they are very similar both in their structure and in the disposition of their markings: the same great difference in the outward appearance of the sexes also occurs in both. Second only in interest to the discovery of this bird, would be an account of its habits and manners; and I trust Mr. Wallace will ere long enlighten us on these points. In the absence of this information, I would venture an opinion that it is partially a creeper in its habits; but whether it frequents the boles of the larger trees or the faces of rocky precipices is uncertain ; neither do we know in what way the males display the plumes which spring out at right angles from the outer part of the shoulder: that the bird has the power of erecting and depressing them at will is without doubt. In the female they are entirely absent. The male may be thus described :-— ‘On the basal half of the upper mandible a series of erected tuft-like feathers of a pale sandy buff, blend- ing on the forehead into the delicate velvety dove-coloured feathers of the crown and occiput ; sides of the head, back of the neck, and upper surface light brown, becoming darker and having a velvety appearance on the back and scapularies; each of these feathers has also a very narrow edging of a lighter hue; wings light brown, fading into buffy white, with a silvery gloss at the tips of the primaries and secondaries ; shafts of the primaries white; the two lengthened plumes springing from each shoulder snowy white; tail brown with white shafts, and becoming of a silvery light brown at the tip; throat, neck, chest, and projecting side- plumes fine emerald-green, becoming very brilliant on the tips of the plumes; under surface brown, the feathers of the breast bordered with brilliant green, giving it a scaled appearance ; flanks washed with the same colour, but less brilliant; thighs light brown; bill brownish horn-colour ; feet yellow. The female has the tuft on the upper mandible and the crown of the head the same as in the male, and is entirely devoid of the green colouring and lengthened plumes both of the breast and wings, her entire plu- mage being brown, without ornamentation of any kind. The Plate represents one male of the natural size, and a second male and a female considerably reduced. [ry ss I cai ~ SS 5 ITT Ty 4 3 (WNAATTIN jo omy HAVIN} UUN O RTHONYX SPA LDI NGI, Rams. Spalding’s Orthonyx, Orthonyx Spaldingi, Rams. in Proc. of Zool. Soc., 1868. p. 386, Ornirnovocists will, I am sure, join with me in congratulating Mr. Spalding, the discoverer, and Mr. Ramsay, the describer, on the acquisition of a second species of this remarkable genus. Further research in the untrodden scrubs and brushes of Northern Australia may yet unveil to us other species of a form especially adapted for roaming over prostrate trees, moss-covered stones, and leafy dells, and obtaining food amidst the herbaceous and other plants peculiar to such situations. : Although the Orthonyx Spalding? is nearly twice the size of O. spinicandus, it will be seen that the two species closely assimilate in their structure, and in certain parts of the colouring of the respective sexes. I wish it were in my power to communicate any information respecting the nidification of the new bird; whenever it may be obtained it will doubtless prove of considerable interest, inasmuch as the form of the nest and the white colour of the eggs of O. spinicaudus are strikingly different from those of every other Australian bird, and we may reasonably infer that those of the new species will be very similar. The following notes by Mr. Ramsay, which comprise all that is at present known respecting the Orthonye Spalding, are extracted from the ‘ Proceedings of the Zoological Society’ for 1868, p. 386 :— “This fine bird was obtained in a dense brush about thirty-five miles inland from Rockingham Bay, Queens- land, and is a valuable addition to our avifauna, being the second species of the anomalous genus Orthonye. Its much greater size and jet-black plumage at once distinguish it from the Orthony spinicaudus of the New- South-Wales brushes, to which, however, it closely assimilates in habits and actions, frequenting the thickest parts of the scrubs, and obtaining its food by scratching among the fallen leaves and deédvis. ‘I beg to propose the name of Spa/dingi for this new species, after its discoverer, who has worked hard in the ornithological line for many years, and added to my collection many valuable and rare birds. “* Male. The whole of the head, cheeks, and ear-coverts, the sides of the head, sides and back of the neck, the sides of the chest, and the shoulders jet-black. Wings above brownish black, the feathers broadly margined with dark brown; primaries and outer webs of the secondaries brown, lighter on the outer webs of the primaries. Chin, throat, chest, and centre of the breast as far as the abdomen white; sides of the breast, flanks, upper and under tail-coverts, rump, and back olive-brown ; base of the ee and SO dull slaty brown; the tail, lower part of the hind neck, and between the shoulders blackish brown ; bill black; eyelids flesh-white ; irides blackish brown; legs and feet brownish les le tail is long and pointed, the two outer feathers one-fourth less than the centre ones, the shafts of which are black and much curved downwards, but not so much worn into spines as in the remainder of the feathers. “Total length (of skin) 11 inches; wing, from flexure 5-2; tail 5 inches; tarsi 1:9; bill, from angle of mouth 1 inch, from forehead 0:9, its width at base 0:4, height 0-4. “The female differs from the male in having the olive-brown tinge on the upper and andes aS a reddish-brown tint, and in having the centre of the chin, throat, and chest rich deep rust-red, from which : g in width, over the breast to the abdomen; the rest of the a triangular patch of white descends, lessening legs and feet blackish brown. plumage as in the male; bill black, irides blackish brown, eyelid Hes aa “Total length (of skin) 5:5 inches ; tail 4-1; wing, from flexure 4:9 5 bill, from angle of mouth 0-9, trom forehead 0°85, height 0°3, width 0:3; tarsi 1:8.” The Plate represents the two sexes, of the natural size. j a } : i = ; = | Q a I 5 y UIAHLIIANA | UAA)TGOOAN TET GOOT TAT Luu SITTELLA STR IATA, Gow. Striated Sittella. Sittella striata, Gould in Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 4th ser., vol. iv. p. 110 Since the discovery of the Si¢tel/a chrysoptera of the southe rm coast of Australia, some seventy or more years ago, five additional and well-defined specie s of this peculiarly Australian genus of tree-runner discovered, namely, the S. deucocephula of Southern Queens! S. pileata of Southern and Western Australia, §. tenuirostris so named by me in my ‘Handbook to the Birds of Australi S. tenurostris 1 have not yet figured ; s have been and, S. leucoptera of the Cobourg Peninsula, (found by Captain Sturt in the interior, and anv anIe p- 610), and the present species. for the only specimen I have ever seen js in an imperfect state of plumage, and I therefore anxiously await the arrival of others to enable me to do so correctly. collected on the Cape-York peninsula by Mr. Cockerell, who tells me that the bird is common there, moving about in little bands of five or six in mainder immediately come fluttering round ; it is constantly engaged in running over the branches of the larger trees, like the other species of the genus. Some specimens have jet-black heads and throats, that hue even extending on to the chest Of this new species I have seen four or five examples, number, and if one be shot the whole may be procured, as the re , while in others the black colouring is nearly confined to the crown ; but one and all are conspicuously striated with blackish brown, both on the upper and under surface. It has not been ascertained by dissection whether the black- throated individuals are males; one would naturally suppose that they are; and I should not have had any doubt on the subject, had I not been aware that in S. pileata there is more black on the head of the female than on that of the other sex—a circumstance which induced me to describe the former as distinct, under the specific appellation of melanocephala, a term which is strictly applicable to the present species, but which, of course, cannot be used. I therefore selected the term sériata as expressive of its next most con- spicuous feature. It will be observed that one of the three specimens figured on the accompanying Plate is greyish white immediately above the bill—a feature which may indicate a youthful state of the bird. The male has the whole of the head, neck, throat, and breast black ; all the upper surface pale brown, with a blackish-brown stripe down the centre of each feather: under surface striated in a similar manner ; but the streaks are narrower, not so dark, and the edges of the feathers are also lighter and on the centre of the abdomen are nearly pure white: primaries black, with a large spot of white ue the base, and faintly tipped with brown; secondaries dark brown, margined with pale brown ; upper an white; under tail-coverts white, with a large tear-shaped spot of dark brown in the Oomlne of each ; tail black, the lateral feathers tipped with white increasing in extent as the feathers recede from the centre; circle round the eye, base of the bill, and the legs and feet yellow; tip of the bill black. Total length 4 inches, bill 2, wing 3, tail 14, tarsi 2. - : The female differs in having the crown and nape only black, and in the striation of the under surface extending from the bill to the vent. The figures are of the natural size. L Lil : =~ =a = =o =o { == =F CACOMANTIS CASTANEIVENTRIS, Gowa. Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo. Cuculus (Cacomantis) castaneiventris, Gould in Ann. & Mag. of Nat. Hist., 3rd ser. vol. xx p. 269 Tus is a new species belonging to a small section of the Cuculide which is peculiar to Australia and the islands lying to the northward of that continent as far as the Philippmes. In their general contour, the Cacomantes are slender and elegant; on the other hand their colours are in general plain and unobtrusive ; while in their demeanour they are sedate and quiet, making less display in their attitudes and actions than the true Cuckoos, and they never emit that well-known sound. Of the other Australian species, it is most nearly allied to the old Cacomantis Jlabelliformis, but differs in its smaller size and in the uniform deep chestnut colouring of its under surface. Its native country is undoubtedly Queensland, as the specimen I have figured was received thence direct, in a collection formed by J. Jardine, Esq., in the Cape York district. In all probability this is the species spoken of by Mr. K. P. Ramsay, in the ‘Ibis’ for 1866, p. 331, where he says: ‘Since 1862, I have several times, throughout various parts of the year, received specimens of a second Cuckoo from Port Denison ; and as I am unable to find any description at all fitting it in Gould’s ‘ Birds of Australia,’ or any other publication, I believe it to be in all probability a new species, the decision of which, however, I shall leave to those better acquainted with the group. All the specimens that have been received from Port Denison are exactly alike in plumage, and were procured from February to December. In size they are slightly smaller than Cacomantis flabelliformis.” I may remark that I have compared my specimen with the Cuckoos in the collection at the British Museum without finding a corresponding example. Its nearest ally is a Philippine bird which may be the Cacomantis sepulchralis of Bonaparte. The Cacomantis bronzina of Mr. G. R. Gray is also very similarly coloured, but is a much larger bird. Chin, ear-coverts, crown, and upper surface deep purplish grey ; all the under surface, including the under tail-coverts, bright chestnut-red ; wings brown, glossed with olive; upper tail-coverts and tail deep greyish purple, all the feathers tipped and the lateral ones toothed on their inner web with white, which assumes on the two outer ones the appearance of interrupted bars ; bill purplish black ; legs and feet orange 5 nails black. Total length 9+ inches, bill 7, wing 44, tail 5, tarsi 7. The Plate represents the bird of the size of life. Z 1p 2. 7, t Halton Millrmarave — I cS) r oe 2} —aaaas Lal. ob litt, wees. I 5 4 uld arnabHNOPachier. de. LAY LIOTITETyTANT TTT ANTI jy iTI(UNI omy i TT ES a CHRYSOCOCCYX MINUTILLUS, Gow Little Cuckoo. Chrysococcyx minutillus, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., part xxvii. p. 128. Noruine further is known respecting this little bronze Cuckoo than that it is a native of Port Essington, whence the only specimen I have yet seen was sent. The example alluded to is fully adult, and differs very considerably from the Chrysococcyx lucidus and every other species with which I am acquainted. It is perhaps more nearly allied to the Java species, C. dasalis of Horsfeld, than to the C. lucidus, but it is as much smaller than the C. dasalis as that bird is less than C. Zucidus. The type of C. dasalis, which is the only one I have seen, and is probably the only one known, is not a fully adult bird; and yet its admeasure- ment exceeds by half an inch that of the C. mznutillus. Head, all the upper surface, and wings shining bronzy green ; all the under surface white, barred with bronzy green, the bars being most distinct on the flanks; primaries and secondaries white on the basal portion of their inner webs ; two centre tail-feathers bronzy green, the next on each side bronzy green on the outer web, rufous on the inner web, crossed by a broad band of black near the tip, and with an oval spot of white across the tip of the inner web; the two next on each side bronzy green on their outer webs, their inner webs rufous with large spots of black near the shaft, most conspicuous on the outermost of the two feathers ; their inner webs are also crossed near the tip with a very broad band of black, and have an oval spot of white at the tip; the outer feather on each side is barred alternately on the outer web with dull bronzy green and dull white, and on the inner one with broad decided bars of black and white and tipped with white; bill black ; feet olive. The figures are of the natural size. Vi RCY Cae Ae zu, [ny L & Watt 7 7, Hutlmondel =a = E =n LI = | =a Es AY ea STRIGOPS HABROPTILUS, Gi. Kakapo. R. Gray. Strigops habroptilus, G. R. Gray, in Gray and Mitchell’s Genera of Birds, vol. ii. p of Zool. Soc., part xv. p. 50.—G. R. Gray in Ibid. p. 61.—Ly Aves, pl. xlvi. fig. 3, ege. 427. pl. cv.—Strange in Proc. all in Proc. of Zool. Soc., PaOntExceno mse I nave no hesitation in giving a figure of this extraordinary Night Parrot in the Supplement to my work on otornis and other remarkable birds from New Zealand, the native country of the Kakapo, have already appeared in its pages. the ‘‘ Birds of Australia,” since the two species of Apteryx, the A Long before 1845, when a skin of this bird was for the first time sent to Europe, we had conclusive evidence of the existence of the species, from the circumstance of plumes made of its feathers being worn by the Maories. It is somewhat strange, however, that such a lengthened period should fete elapsed after the discovery and possession of New Zealand before so singular a bird should have found its way to Europe. At no very distant date it doubtless inhabited alike all the islands of the New Zealand group; but it probably no longer exists in the northern island, its extirpation from whence being doubtless attributable to a variety of causes: it is that portion of the country in which the natives have always chiefly resided, and the introduction since the visit of the celebrated navigator Cook, of the Pig, the Dog, the Cat, and that universal pest the brown or Norway Rat, has doubtless tended greatly to produce such a result; for the three latter having now become wild, we may reasonably infer that they have played no inconsiderable part in the destruction, not only of this comparatively helpless bird, but of many others ; the time is probably not far distant when these marauders will obtain a footing in the middle and southern islands, the result of which may be anticipated by what has already occurred. I have always entertained the opinion that the present bird, the Mocornis, the Apteryx, the Neomorpha and the Nestor are only remnants of a bird fauna of a very distant period now all but extinct; a fauna in my opinion peculiar to New Zealand, Norfolk Island and other adjoining islets, which themselves are probably the remains of a submerged continent, for it can scarcely be imagined that the huge Dinornis, Palapteryx and other allied genera were formed to dwell on islands so small as those in which their remains are now found. The first published account of this singular bird is that given by Dr. Lyall, R.N. in the Part of the “Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London” above referred to, and which I beg leave to transcribe: “Although the Aakapo is said to be still found occasionally on some parts of the Ing mountains in the interior of the north island of New Zealand, the only place where we met with it, during our ee tion and exploration of the coasts of the islands in H.M.S. Acheron, was at the a end! of ae middle island. There, in the deep sounds which intersect that part of the island, it is still found in foueulovelile numbers, inhabiting the dry spurs of hills or flats near the banks of rivers, where the trees are high, and the forest comparatively free from fern or underwood. Be “The first place where it was obtained was on a hill nearly 4000 feet above the level of the sea. It was ” a ilies eae aa sea. In these places its also found living in communities on flats near the mouths of rivers close to the sea ple 1 ‘ ‘ aving us at first to imagine that there tracts were to be seen resembling footpaths made by man, and leaving us at ag The tracks are about a foot wide, regularly pressed down must be natives in the neighbourhood. | oss each other usually at Z ‘ : a : ss oR to the edges, which are two or three inches deep amongst the moss, and ¢ right angles. 4 eet laces lige ee ace Se ‘asionally found under shelving rocks. “The Aakapo lives in holes under the roots of trees, and 1s also occi aly ay ES) Wa Ue VO o bo The roots of many New Zealand trees growing partly above ground, holes are common under them; but where the Aakapo is found many of the holes appeared to have been enlarged, although no earth was ever found thrown out near them. There were frequently two openings to these holes, and occasionally, though rarely, the trees over them were hollow for some distance up. «The only occasion on which the Aakapo was seen to fly was when it got up one of these hollow trees and was driven to an exit higher up. The flight was very short, the wings being scarcely moved; and the bird alighted on a tree at a lower level than the place from whence it had come, but soon got higher up by climbing, using its tail to assist it. «Except when driven from its holes, the Avkapo is never seen during the day, and it was only by the assistance of dogs that we were enabled to find it. ‘Before dogs became common, and when the bird was plentiful in inhabited parts of the islands, the natives were in the habit of catching it at night, using torches to confuse it. It offers a formidable resistance to a dog, and sometimes inflicts severe wounds with its powerful claws and beak. Ata very recent period it was common all over the west coast of the middle island, but there is now a race of wild dogs said to have overrun all the northern part of this shore, and to have almost extirpated the Kakapos wherever they have reached. Their range is said to be at present confined by a river or some such physical obstruction, and it is to be feared that if they once succeed in gaining the stronghold of the Kakapo (the S.W. end of the island) the bird may soon become extinct. “During the latter half of February and the first half of March, whilst we were amongst the haunts of these birds, we found young ones in many of the holes, frequently only one, never more than two, in the same hole. In one case where there were two young ones I found also an addled egg. There was usually, but not always, an old bird in the same hole with the young ones. “They build no nest, but simply scrape a slight hollow amongst the dry dust formed of decayed wood. The young were of different ages, some being nearly fully fledged, and others covered only with down. The egg is white and about the size of a pigeon’s, two inches and an eighth long by one inch and nine-sixteenths broad. “The cry of the Aakapo is a hoarse croak, varied occasionally by a discordant shriek when irritated or hungry. The Maories say that during winter they assemble together in large numbers in caves, and at the times of meeting, and, again before dispersing to their summer haunts, that the noise they make is perfectly deafening. “A good many young ones were brought on board the ship alive. Most of them died a few days afterwards, probably from want of sufficient care; some died after being kept a month or two, and the legs of others became deformed after they had been a few weeks in captivity. The cause of the deformity was supposed to be the want of proper food, and too close confinement. They were fed chiefly on soaked bread, oatmeal and water, and boiled potatoes. When let loose in a garden they would eat lettuces, cabbages and grass, and would taste almost every green leaf that they came across. One, which I brought within six hundred miles of England (when it was accidentally killed), whilst at Sydney, ate eagerly of the leaves of a Banksia and several species of Kucalyptus, as well as er ass, appearing to prefer them all to its usual diet of bread and water. It was also very fond of nuts and almonds, and during the latter part of the homeward voyage lived almost entirely on Brazilian ground-nuts. “On several occasions the bird took sullen fits, during which it would eat nothing for at a. time, screaming and defending itself with its beak when times of an uncertain temper, sometimes bitin two or three days any one attempted to touch it. It was at all g severely when such a thing was least expected. It appeared to be always in the best humour when first taken out of its upper mandible to the finger held down to lift it out. the first object which attracted its atte box in the morning, hooking on eagerly with its As soon as it was placed on the deck it would attack ntion—sometimes the leg of my trowsers, sometimes a slipper or a boot. Of the latter it was particularly fond; it would nestle down upon it, flapping its wings and showing every symptom of pleasure. It would then get up » rub against it with its side striking out with its feet whilst in this position. s, and roll upon it on its back, «One of these birds, sent on shore by Capt. Stokes ‘are of Maj , é y Lapt. Stokes to the care of Major Murray of the 65th Regiment Ali zs TAS a Te = ‘ 1 rarda 2 at Wellington, was allowed to run about. his garden, where it was fond of the society of the children t) ; n, following them like a dog wherever they went. “Nearly all the adult Aakapos which T skinned were excee blubber on the breast which it was very difficult to pale green, sometimes almost white dingly fat, having a Separate from the skin. ' e homogeneous mass, without “There can be little doubt but that their food c¢ or less covered with indurated mud), and parly thick layer of oily fat or Their stomachs contained a any trace of fibre in it. onsists partly of roots (their be of the leaves and tender shoot place where the birds were numerous we observed that the young the banks of a river were all nipped off, and this w ; aks are usually more S of various plants. At one shoots of a leguminous shrub growing by as said by our pilot, who had fre é many years in a whaling vessel, to be the work of the J quented these places for Kakapo. «Their flesh is white, and is generally esteemed good eating.” re also been kindly favoured with the ‘ing notes is bird by His E ir G lilkave a poten y fi € following notes on tis bird by His Excellency Sir George Grey, late Governor of New Zealand and now Governor of the Cape of Good Hope :— “The Strigops is called Kaka-po or Night Kaka by the aborigines of New Zealand, from the habits of the bird. During the day it remains hid in holes under the r perched on the boughs of trees with a very dense thick nocturnal oots of trees or rocks 3 Or, very rarely, foliage: at these times it appears stupid from its profound sleep, and if disturbed or taken from its hole immediately runs and tries to hide itself again, J % > o delighting, if practicable, to cover itself in a heap of soft dry grass ; about sunset it becomes lively, animated and playful, issues forth from its retreat and feeds on grass, weeds, vegetables, fruits, seeds and roots: when eating grass it rather grazes than feeds, nibbling the grass in the manner of a rabbit or wombat. It sometimes climbs trees, but generally remains upon the ground, and only uses its short wings for the purpose of aiding its progress when running, balancing itself when on a tree or in making a short descent, half-jump, half-flight from a higher to a lower bough. When feeding, if pleased with its food, it makes a continued grunting noise: it is a greedy bird and choice in its food, showing an evident relish for anything of which it is fond. It cries repeatedly during the night with a noise not very unlike that of the Kaka, but not so loud. “The Kakapo is a very clever and intelligent bird, in fact singularly so; contracts a strong affection for those who are kind to it, shows its attachment by climbing about and rubbing itself against its friend, and is eminently a social and playful bird; indeed, were it not for its dirty habits, it makes a far better pet than any other bird with which I am acquainted; for its manner of showing its attachment, by playfulness and fondling, is more like that of a dog than a bird. “It builds in holes under trees and rocks, and lays two or three white eggs, about the size of a pullet’s, in the month of February ; and the young birds are found in March. “At present, 1854, the bird is known to exist only in the middle island of New Zealand, on the west coast, between Chalky Harbour and Jackson’s Bay, and in the northern island about the sources of the Whangarie, and in part of the Taufa countries. It was, within the recollection of the old people abundant in every part of New Zealand, and they say that it has been exterminated by the cats introduced by Europeans, which are now found wild and in great numbers in every part of the country; they say also that the large rat, introduced from Europe, has done its part in the work of destruction ; - “The natives assert, that when the breeding season is over the Aakapo lives in societies of five or at im the same hole; and they also state that it is a provident bird, and lays up in the fine season a store of fern root for the bad meen I have had five or six of these birds in captivity, but never succeeded in keeping them alive for more than eighteen months or two years. The last I had I sent home as a present to the Zoological Society, but I am informed it died off Cape Horn. PNOwR 4 The following is Mr. G. R. Gray’s description of this remarkable species :— ‘Upper surface sap-green, with a verdigris tinge on the wings; each feather marked in the middle with yellow, which is margined on the sides with black, from which spring irregular transverse bands of the same colour; the outer webs of the greater wing-coverts, quills, secondaries and entire tail brownish-buff, irregularly banded transversely with black; between every alternate set lemon-yellow; the inner webs of and secondaries black, more or less transversely banded with lemon-yellow; under surface pale quills greenish-yellow, tinged with lemon-yellow, more or less marked along the shaft with pale yellow, which is narrowly margined with brownish-black ; some of the feathers have transverse bands of the same colour ; the top of the head brownish-black, margined outerly with sap-green, tinged in some places with verdigris, and marked in the middle with pale yellow; the front cheeks, ear-coverts and the projecting feathers of the face pale umbre, marked in the middle with yellowish-white ; bill white ; feet plumbeous-black. ] ) 5 5 I Total length 2 feet 4 inches ; bill 1 inch 8 lines ; wings 114 inches; tail 9} inches; tarsi 14 inch.” The figure represents the bird about three-fourths of the size of life. ator, Lrg. Qa Hiullmandel d Vi z, L of. lit Je, Cd ’ AW ql Sbo0uld and H C Fichter UAGISA ULNA L OATTOTOET TAT LT . I ue y HF NESTOR HYPOPOLILUS. Ka-ka Parrot. Psittacus hypopolius, Forst. Icon., 50. —— Meridionalis, Gmel. Edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., Nestor, Lath. Ind. Orn., vol. i. 1D. WIG. ——_—— Australis, Shaw, Mus. Lever., pl. at p. tom. 1. p. 333.—Dieff. Tray. in New Zeal., vol. ii. p. 193. 87.—Bonap. Consp. Gen. Ay., (Kakadoe) Nestor, Kuhl, Consp. Psitt. in Noy. Act. &c. Nestor hypopolius, Wagl. Mon. Psitt. in Abhand. &c., pp. pl. 12.—Gould, Syn. Birds of Aust., pl. 3 itl Souancé, Rev. et. Mag. de Zool., 1856, p. 22 part ill. sec. i1., Psittacide, p. 99. p. 8, Nestor, sp. 1. eDDemleans Os 905 and 696.—Selby in Jard. Nat. eines g. 2.—Bonap. Rev. et Mag. de Zool., 18 2.—G. R. Gray, List of Spec. arrots, p. 121, 04, p. 155.—De of Birds in Coll. Brit. Mus., Southern Brown Parrot, Lath. Gen. Syn., vol. i: p. 264.—Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. viii. p. 522.—hLath. Gen. Hist. vole uw: p. 201: , Nestor Nove-Zelandia, Less. Traité d’Orn., p. 191. Centrourus Australis, Swains. Class. of Birds., vol. ii. p- 303. Ka-ka, Natives of New Zealand. Aurnoucu New Zealand has been known to us since the days of our celebrated voyager Captain Cook, and been a British possession for so many years, no one of its many intelligent settlers has written a line respecting this species of Parrot; neither has the English ornithologist Swainson, who resided there for some years, nor the German historian of its birds, Dieffenbach, nor the enlightened Governor Grey, said one word on the subject. Had an opportunity offered for my visiting New Zealand, this void in the history of one of the most interesting of the great group of Parrots should certainly have been filled up; what more, then, can I do than give an accurate figure of the bird, and call the attention of the residents of New Zealand to the subject, in the hope that one or more of them will study and record the habits and economy of the bird before it is extirpated, and its name and a few stuffed skins alone left as an evidence of its once having existed. Although urging this so strongly, I am aware that of all the members of the genus the present species is the commonest, and that at this moment numbers are yet to be found in the New Zealand group; still I feel assured that it is one of the species which before many years have elapsed will become extinct. A very great dissimilarity both in size and colouring occurs in different examples of this species, so much so as to induce a belief, both in my own mind and in that of others, that they may constitute two species, a great and a little Aa-ta. Some of the specimens have the whole of the crown and back of the neck and the outer portion of the wings bluish grey; others appear to be real Nestors, having very hoary heads ; some have very distinct collars of beautiful-fringed feathers at the back of the neck, while in others this feature is more feebly developed. It will be a question for the colonists to determine if there be more than a single species, or if the differences seen in the skins sent to Europe are indications only of local varieties, and to what cause they may be due. This bird is the type of Dr. Wagler’s genus ‘Vesfor, the species of Se are rendered remarkable by the depth and richness of their colouring ; the only outward difference in the sexes would appear to be the somewhat smaller size and less brilliant colouring of the female. It is said to be one of the most noisy) and impudent of its race, to have a voice harsh and disagreeable in the extreme, and to possess considerable powers of imitation. “dc nae cde Crown of the head and nape hoary, slightly tinged with green, and with a narrow edg ng ‘ a each feather ; ear-coverts striated with dull orange and brown ; feathers at the cheeks ang at a throat hoary bordered with brown, and washed with red at the base of the bill 5 all a ae brown, each feather margined with dark brown, and the feathers of the neck tipped with : Serie ee ae : ae of orange-brown and orange; wings and tail olive, becoming paler on tl e a : ; secondaries deeply toothed on their in- argins and tip; under wing- coverts scarlet, crossed by narrow bands of black ; primaries and Dee ee ternal webs with light salmon-colour, those of the tail with deeteda sa ree a ae breast olive, with a narrow crescent of brown near the tip, beyond wibich is ; oo - ee ae lower part of the back, upper tail-coverts, abdomen, and under ae 2 en rich red, within which, near the end, is a narrow erescent of brown ; De ae = ‘ - ee The large figure on the accompanying Plate was taken from a tolerably old bird, : ashe oy surface of the wings and tail. the reduced figure is given to show the colouring of the under surface 0 g Es 5, OS rn ny ts} tN a C0 Ae . Z 7Y0. Lior, [7 Ce Lulirurde & Vy OWEN CE ¢ wlll, LING Q S i NESTOR II 5 A ign II Sboidd ural Pachter del cé Zz: Hil 2 I IIHMI NII ; j 5 X P 7 aan" ) OE > wes Ne. O32 ERY ~) NEST STOR ESSLINGIL Souance . Prince of Kssling’s Parrot. : Nestor Esslingu, De Souancé, Rev. et Mag. de Zool. 1856, p. 223. Mus., part iii. sec. 2, Psittacide, p. 100. Nove-zelandie, Bonap. Rey. et. Mag. de Zool. 1854, p. 155 —Gray, List of Spec. of Birds in Coll. Brit ee A sINGLE specimen only of this magnificent Parrot has come under my notice; and this example is perhaps the only one that has yet been sent to Europe. It formerly formed part of the collection of the Prince D’Essling of Paris, but now graces the National Museum of Great Britain. It is ; ae: ‘ in a most perfect state of preservation, and is without exception one of the finest species, 3 On not only of its genus, but of the great family of Parrots. The native country of this bird is supposed to be New Zealand; but I, as well as M. de Souancé, have failed to learn anything definite on this point. In size it even exceeds the great Ka-ka (Vestor hile in its general colouring it closely assimilates to the V. productus ; in some features of its plumage, however, it differs from both. hypopolius), which it resembles in the form of its beak, w In both those species the tail-feathers are strongly toothed on the under surface with red; in the MV. Esslingii no such marks occur, the toothing on the inner webs of the primaries is not so clear and well defined, and the light- coloured interspaces are more freckled with brown. As I have treated the subject of the near extinction of this species and its allies rather freely in the description of .V. notadzlis, it will not be necessary to say anything on the subject here. I need scarcely remark how interesting additional examples of any of these rare Parrots would be to our collections, especially of the present species ; second only to which would be a knowledge of the country it inhabits. I observe M. de Souancé states that he believes the Essling Collection also contained a young specimen of this bird ; but having-examined the individual to which he refers, and which is now in the British Museum, Tam somewhat doubtful as to its belonging to this species. The following is M. de Souancé’s account of this bird, which, as he is the original describer of the species, is given in his own words :— “ Nesror Essuineu, nob. Le Nestor dont nous allons donner la description est, sans contredit, oiseau le plus remarquable de la collection Masséna. Intermédiaire entre le NV. Aypopolius et le N. productus, ce magnifique Perroquet réunit, dans son plumage, des détails caractéristiques de ces deux espéces. “Coloration générale semblable a celle du V. hypopolius: tout le dessus de la téte gris blanchatre, les plumes auriculaires jaune orangé trés-vif, les joues rouge orangé ; les plumes de la poitrine gris cendré, ) mais largement bordées de brun; une large ceinture d’un blane jaunatre regne sur le milieu du ventre ; le | bas-ventre, les cuisses et les couvertures de la queue rouge brun ; bec et pieds de couleur sombre. L. T. | 50 cent.; aile 30 cent. Nouvelle-Zélande ? Un autre individu, jeune, ressemble tout-a-fait au jeune de Vespece ordinaire, mais il offre quelques plumes blanches sur abdomen, ce qui indique clairement qu'il appartient a cette espéce. oo ‘En comparant cette espéce avec ses deux congéneres plus anclennement connus, nous voyons qu'il ae du JV. Aypopolius, dont, au reste, il est fort voisin, par la coloration pas ue de ses joues et hs blanche. Nous signalerons dans le NV. productus, un fait analogue Q calm que noe ee a dans les Loriculus philippensis, L. Regulus, L. Bonaparter ; ee eas = : - mandibule supérieure, qui rappelle ce que Pon voit parmi les ee ee ieee leptorhynchus, et pour les Cacatoes, dans le genre Licmetis. Ici eu de fend) 4 3 ee Se ee semblable a celui du WV. Aypopolius. M. Gould; dans ses ‘ Oiseaux de | ae gure un 1 - y ae | Iques rapports avec cette espece et qui sen eloigne Dee ] ul par sa poitrine grise semblerait avoir que noe coup Pe: : ‘ Nous caractérisons donc les trois especes de Neston ce é r sa téte brune et la forme de son bec. ah pendant par sa téte bri ; : 1 et fort: dessus de la téte blanc grisatre ; plumes de la maniere suivante :—1° V. Aypopolius. Bec grand et tort; des 5 N Pinon Bee orand et fort; : Satie Je YSSUNL IU. ‘ > . . Q t > oe, yA ° 4 5 5 s pei 5 ancees de jaune et de roug ee oo element ness : laires et joues trés-vivement colorées de jaune et de sommet de la téte blanc grisdtre; plumes auriculaires et Joucs Pabdomen. 3° NV. productus. Bec . S Atre alee . e . gs rouge orangé ; poitrine gris brun, une large ceinture blanc jaunatre sur lab C maT 2S : iF 2 nuance \ et to é] ° ¢ > run 5 le oue d un jaune 1 | ge € gre e€ 5 sommet de la tete b uD 5 S i} = : = ee : notabilis, had he been aware of its é de rouge ; la gorge, la poitrine . . pe et les couvertures inférieures des ailes jaune pale. a a 5 « y LVestor To this list M. Souancé would doubtless have added my / existence. é 5 : x ee +h reduced. The large figure is of the size of life ; the othe much redt “Melton, L7Y. Nest Ir mus of the. remarl tio. eviden' in fact our gle must S be pres remem only a and gis delinea respect Zoolog: “Th now kn not onl uniform ries, an under n “Mr some ol what re used fo1 only obt for one “Ger of the s near th green ; the tail. feathers with br toothed spread ; feet nea malar “ Hab The f NESTOR NOTABILIS N S, Gord. Kea Parrot. Nestor notabilis, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., part xxiv. p. 94.—G. R. Gray Mus., pt. i. sec. i1., Psittacide, p. 100. St of Spee. of Birds in Coll. Brit. Iv must be remembered that we are indebted to Mr. Walter Mantell for the of the Notornes : and second only in importance to this extraordinary remarkable species of Parrot, a bird equally as rare as the Notornis, and apparently equally as near its extine tion. When writing on any of the birds of the New Zealand and : : ee ; ae ree = adjacent group of islands, it soon becomes 7 | oO Ww A rams . B eS eee ‘ evident that we are dealing with the few remaining members of an extremely ancient fauna, the remnants, in fact, of genera and species which in the lapse of a few years will be entirely effaced from the surface of our globe. The Philip Island Parrot (Nestor productus) is already gone ; and the Kaka (A must soon follow, but not so soon, probably, as the present bird. acquisition of a recent specimen and almost extinct bird, is the present ‘estor hypopolius) With what care, then, should such relics be preserved in our museums ; to none but hermetically sealed cases should they be consigned. Let it be remembered how great are our regrets that the evidence of the former existence of the Dodo comprises only a single foot and head and a few dried bones. Imbued with the importance of recording the history, and giving a portraiture of these nearly extinct birds, I have endeavoured to be most accurate in their delineation, especially with regard to the four species of Nestor. I have nothing to add to the few remarks respecting the history of the present bird accompanying my original description in the “ Proceedings of the Zoological Society ;” and therefore I cannot do better than transcribe them here :— “The Nestor notabelis, which is called “Kea” by the natives, is the largest of the four species of the form now known, and is certainly one of the most interesting of the ornithological novelties lately discovered. It not only differs from its near allies NM. Aypopolius and N. productus in its greater size, but in the greater uniformity of its colouring, in the yellow toothed markings of the inner webs of the primaries and seconda- ries, and in the orange toothed markings of the inner webs of the tail-feathers ; the yellow colouring of the under mandible is another of the peculiarities by which it may be distinguished. “Mr. Mantell informed me that he first heard of the existence of the Aca about eight years ago, from some old natives whom he was questioning as to the birds of the Middle Island. They said the Aea some- what resembled the Kaka (Nestor hypopolius), but that, unlike that bird, it was green; and added that it used formerly to come to the coast in severe winters, but that they had not seen it lately. Mr. Mantell has only obtained the two specimens exhibited of this fine bird: they were shot in the Murihiku country ; and for one of them he was indebted to Mr. John Lemon of Murihiku. “General hue olive-green; each feather tipped in a crescentic form with brown, and having a fine line of the same colour down the shaft ; feathers of the lower part of the back and the upper tail-coverts washed near the tip with fiery orange-red; primaries brown, margined at the base with greenish blue; tail dull green; inner webs of the lateral feathers brown, toothed on their basal two-thirds with orange-yellow ; all the tail-feathers crossed near the extremity with an indistinct band of brown, and tipped with olive-brown ; feathers of the axillz fine scarlet ; under wing-coverts scarlet tipped with brown, the greater ones banded with brown and with yellow stained with scarlet ; basal portion of the primaries and secondaries largely toothed with fine yellow, which is not perceptible on the upper surface unless ae wings are very widely spread ; upper mandible dark horn-colour; under mandible yellow, becoming richer towards the point ; feet nearly yellowish olive. “ Total length, 18 inches ; bill, 2; wing, 12;; tail, 725 tars, 13. “ Habitat. The Middle Island, New Zealand.” The figure on the accompanying Plate is of the natural size. 3 we ieee ae gue oe 7 oe Neue oot ER Gir, PRION Bae ot Biase ee ten Poe Se Ce aga mnt CSS Rye ct tht OF ea = Tr ACSeacC eis C SoS ae ao FF i) a ey 90, Spee a SS = eh tae pee eee ie al US ee aN a) et aad ZS om ecomne COS ome) 2 et A SS oe SS e.g =sS Bos * a eS = —£ & Ce ny = Ss mn & ty i Walk ante ll 5 4 3 rnp {111 i AVN} any ee SST INA RTS CMEGRS EL iG a at MICROGLOSSUS ATERRIMUS. Great Palm Cockatoo. Psittacus Gigas, Lath. Ind. Orn., vol. i. Do OZ, Black Cockatoo, Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. viii. vol. il. p. 198. Great Black Cockatoo, Edw. Glean.., pl. 316. Grey Cockatoo, Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. ii. p. 199. Le Kakatoés noir, Buff. Hist. Nat. des Ois., tom. vi. p. 97. L’ Ara noir a trompe, L Ara gris a trompe, Psitiacus aterrimus, Gmel. Edit. Linn. Syst. Nat. ——— griseus, Bechst. ——— Goliath, Kuhl, Consp. Psitt. in Nov. Acta, vol. x. p. Open ieeet M Cacatua aterrima, Vieill. Nouv. Dict. d’Hist. Nat.—Ib. Ency. Mé Microglossus aterrimus, Vieill. Gal. des Ois., tom. i. pl. Consp. Genera Av., Dee Js 4dr OL Wl —eth, Con. Syn., vol. i. p. 260.—Ib. Gen. Hist. Me Vaill. Hist. des Perr., pls. 11, 19, 13. » vol. i. p. 330.—Kuhl, Consp. Psitt. in Noy. Acta, vol. x. p. 91. an. d’Orn., tom. ii. elas th. Orn. Part iii. Delany 50.—Wagl. Mon. Psitt. in Abhand., vol. i. p. 682.—Bonap. Microglossum aterrimum, Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. ii. p. 424.—Less. Man. d@’Orn., tom. ii. p 145.— G. R. Gray, List of Gen. of Birds, 2nd edit. p. 69. es Perroquet a trompe, Cuv. Réegne Anim., tom. i. p. 465. Microglossus ater, Less. Traité d’Orn., p. 184, Atlas, pl. 19. fig 1 et A. Payuntoo, Goodang Tribe of the Aborigines at Cape York. As might have been expected, the fauna of the extreme northern portion of Australia is found to comprise many species common to the island of Papua or New Guinea; and hence we find this noble species of Cockatoo, hitherto only known to us as a native of that country, to be also a denizen of the palm forests of Cape York. Although not new to science, there is no one of the accessions obtained during the late expe- dition of H.M.S. Rattlesnake of greater interest to myself than the present bird, adding as it does another to the already rich series of the Psittacide gracing the ornithology of Australia. At present the Cape York district is the only part of the country it is known to inhabit; but it is probable, that when colonization has advanced into its tropical regions, it will be found that the bird enjoys an extensive range. Although the bird appears to have been known as long back as 1707, in which year, according to Edwards, 8. Van der Meulen published a figure of it at Amsterdam, under the name of Corvus Indicus, nothing has been recorded of its habits and economy; I have therefore much pleasure in communicating the following interesting notes by Mr. MacGillivray, in which the reader will not fail to notice the perfect | adaptation of the bill to the express purpose for which it was designed :— “This very fine bird, which is not uncommon in the vicinity of Cape York, was usually found in the densest scrub among the tops of the tallest trees, but was occasionally seen in the open forest land perched on the largest of the Zucalypt7, apparently resting on its passage from one belt of trees or patch of scrub to another: like the Calyptorhynchi, it is a slow flier, and usually flies but a short distance. In November 1849, the period of our last visit to Cape York, it was always found in pairs, very shy and difficult of approach. Its cry is merely a low short whistle of a single note which may be represented by the letters ‘Hweet-hweet.’ The stomach of the first one killed contained a few small pieces of quartz and triturated fragments of palm cabbage, with which the crop of another specimen was completely filled ; and a idea immediately suggests itself, that the powerful bill of this bird 1s a most fitting instrument for stripping off the leaves nea the summits of the Seaforthia elegans and other palms to enable it to arrive at the central tender shoot. | Lores deep velvety black ; lengthened crest-feathers greyish black ; the remainder of the plumage black, with purple reflexions ; irides purplish brown; cheeks pale dull crimson bordered with pale yellow, the two colours gradually blending into each other; bill and feet purplish black. oa hole of the lower mandible is horn-colour, and the under In the young male the tip of the upper and the w fon marks of yellowish white at the tips of the abdo- surface is brownish black, with narrow obscure crescentic minal feathers. The figure of the head is of the natural size. a | TERY CW OO BRS A ROW NOB RG Os p ID di le di of In dt ati dit th Its thie be wh Inv SCI res = oS €CC an( AC yell b ros Cor h Ade Lev lath ae Lichter and Hl Foula Li I 5 INUIT NTH a jin om 4 POLYTELIS ALEXANDRA, Gow, The Princess of Wales’s Parrakeet. Polyteles alexandre, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc. 1863, p. 232. Polytelis alewandre, Gould, Handb. Birds of Aust., vol. ii. p. 32. Se I ree. assured a the discovery of an additional species of the lovely genus Polytelis will be hailed with pleasure by all ornithologists, and that they will readily assent to its bearing the specific name of Alexandre, in honour of the princess destined, we trust, at some future time to be the queen of these realms and their dependencies, of which Australia is by no means the least important. The Polytelis Alewandre is in every respect a typical example of its genus, having the delicate bill and lengthened tail characteristic of the other species of that form. About the same size as P. Barraband, it differs from that species in having the crown blue and the lower part of the cheeks rose-pink, instead of yellow. For my knowledge of this new species I am indebted to the Board of Governors of the South Australian Institute, who liberally forwarded to me a series of the birds procured by Mr. Frederick G. Waterhouse during the late Mr. Stuart’s exploratory expedition into Central Australia. The locality on the label attached to the specimens was, “ Howell’s Ponds, lat. 16° 54! 7" S.” The extremely delicate tints which pervade the plumage of this new bird render it conspicuously different from all other Australian Parrakeets that have yet become known to us; and I cannot believe that one will be discovered more fitting to bear the name of an illustrious lady as a specific designation. Its acquisition tends to prove that many fine species, of which we previously had no conception, inhabit the unexplored parts of the great continent of Australia, and that other novelties will from time to time be discovered as the interior of the country becomes accessible to the settler and the naturalist; hence it is that so much interest attaches to the journeys made by the pioneers of civilization, particularly when they have associated with them such a naturalist as Mr. Waterhouse. Surely, then, it is not too much to hope that, in all future explorations undertaken by the authorities of the colonies, zoological | science will receive that degree of attention which its importance demands. At present all we know respecting this interesting bird is, that, like the other species of its genus, it is BURT eTONS in Its own area; but the extent of that area is yet to be ascertained, as is ao a eda of “A habits a economy; these latter, however, are doubtless very similar to those of its near allies, Polyteks Barrabandi and P. melanura. . Forehead delicate light blue; lower part of the cheeks, chin, and throat rose-pink ; head, nape, mant : back, and scapularies olive-green ; lower part of the back and rump blue ; ae and Wee - e yellowish green ; external webs of the principal primaries dull puee breast and oe ome 0 ao nig : r tail-coverts olive, tinged with blue; two centre tail-feathers bluish olive-green, the two nex rosy-red; uppe a : Zo the remaining’ tail- . y |e aT 1 iS . . o } . on each side olive-green on their outer webs and dark brown on their inner ones 5 : a | : : a ; r deep rosy-red ; bi feathers tricoloured, the central portion being black, the outer olive-grey, and the inne | J ; coral-red ; feet mealy-brown. The figures, which are of the natural size, w having been duly returned, doubtless now form par Adelaide. ere taken from the individuals mentioned above, and which, t of the collection of the South Australian Institute at OP SO ACO ACF NOR Ree r= | Rea Be Ir ( num bird strik only allie cons of tl bird: done the | fear fo Sl Aust was TI colot Cr black and shoul secon tertia green narro tipper exter Th PLATYCERCUS CYANOGENYS, Goud S00 ant HC Richter, ded. a lth fr Hullmuanded & Walton, [rp (ANVAULAAUAAAAACACTTGTUUTUUUTOGOOOA ANUS a " a" A i Sea Se ear ees ere cere sa rs = — ee Blue-cheeked Parrakeet. Platycercus cyanogenys, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., July 24, 18 55. sannot be denied, I think, that the principal fe : a : Pee. Ir can principal feature in the ornithology of Australia consists in the : : : The presence of so many of these beautiful birds communicates a peculiar charm to this distant land, and gives to it a tropical character at once striking and novel to the multitudes of newly arrived emigrants from the British numerous species of Parrots which abound in that country. Islands, where they are only seen in cages and regarded as beautiful rarities. The numerous species of the Platycerci and their allied genera, feeding, as they do, exclusively on seeds and vegetables, have all delicate flesh, and are consequently very generally eaten, from the elegant little Melopsittacus undulatus to the largest member of the genus to which the present bird belongs. Fancy killmg and plucking a dozen of aa beautiful birds as the one figured in the accompanying Plate, for the purposes of the table! yet such was commonly done at the period of my visit to the colony, and the practice will doubtless be continued as long as the supply is equal to the demand; the emigrant must, however, greatly extend his roaming, and many fearful scenes will probably occur between him and the aborigines before the present bird can be subjected to such an ignoble sacrifice, for it is only at the distant peninsula of Cape York, on the extreme north of Australia, that the bird is to be found. It was there that the single specimen now in the British Museum was shot by Mr. MacGillivray, on the 7th of October 1848. The Platycercus cyanogenys is very nearly allied to P. palliceps, but differs in the general tone of the colouring of the body, and in the rich blue cheeks, which has suggested the specific name. Crown of the head pale sulphur-yellow; cheeks ccerulean-blue; feathers of the nape, back and scapularies black, broadly margined with sulphur-yellow, and stained with green on the lower part of the back; rump and upper tail-coverts greenish-yellow, with an extremely narrow fringe of black at the tip of the feathers ; shoulder and greater wing-coverts deep blue; lesser coverts black, bordered with deep blue; primaries and | secondaries blackish-brown, the basal half of their external webs deep blue, the apical half pale blue ; tertiaries black, broadly margined with greenish-yellow; breast pale greenish-yellow; abdomen light greenish-blue ; all the feathers of the under surface slightly fringed with black ; under tail-coverts scarlet, narrowly margined with yellow ; two middle tail-feathers greenish-blue ; the next on each side blue, slightly tipped with pale blue; the remainder blackish-brown at the base of their internal webs, and deep blue externally, their apical portions being beautiful pale blue. The front figure represents the bird of the natural size. &s AVECW MOM PO ACY OR Ra Or a os S = ee — teen 3 i =o ll iS = — a ssc a , 2 = Ss - = _- ~~ eee Ce @ ZS oh a 6S a ee re Ore Saeed oh tone cl eet gO ad oS — See a - 4 cS S Sh ate = oe = ae LY ag L = S21 ans ee es ores Sy . -_ — 2 =e) a = = i “ wo oc a = =a qi Es —— = = Ss CS = CS ell — e~, ff SS ae es ee et ee, a ica A= peo a= So oS) ie alee a cote (See aS Seas oy ics 2 SS Seo oe SS C5) sim z oS Lv oc san FF Ss 5 = > = eee = pa S um Qo 7 w D oa — — or So oO = ad See See a ae Se Sid BM SS one cae rete a no suet wm = oF a i j | j , 4 Z i Ey Yl i] ~ "Bate 8 i — S ss i . S Hl a Eee cm 4 HLA U1 QL ATOpTUy ATT " 2 A 3 | 4 | 5 would, PSEPHOTUS CHRYSOPTERYGIUS G Golden-backed Parrakeet. Psephotus chrysopterygius, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., part xxv. p. 220 One of the greatest pleasures enjoyed by the late celebrated botanist Robert Brown, during the last thirty A A . . 2 ears of his life, was to now and then exhibit 1 rawing of a parr j y life, the drawing of a parrot made by one of the brothers Bauer, from a specimen procured somewhere on the north coast of Australia, but of whic h no specimen was preserved at the time, and none had since been brought to England. eo eo. It afforded him at times much amusement to angly show me this drawing as j f “hic e i i exu ting y show me dre pee as a bird I eoulle not find, and which I had not included in my great work on the birds of that country. Now the only way in which I could meet this kind of half taunt from my friend, was to remark that I should get it some day or other; and I certainly did exult when I received an example from the hands of Mr. Elsey, a year or two prior to Mr. Brown’s death. On comparing the bird with the drawing made at least forty years before, they proved to be so much alike that no doubt remained on my mind as to its having been made from an example of this species. This, then, is one of the novelties for which we are indebted to the explorations of A. C. Gregory, Esq.; and I trust it may not be the last I shall have to characterize through the researches of this intrepid traveller. Mr. Elsey, who, as is well known, accompanied the expedition, obtained three examples—a male, a female, and a young bird—all of which are now in our national collection. The bird is in every way a true Psephotus, and moreover is a very lovely species. It is allied both to the P. pudcherrimus and P. multicolor, but differs from them, among other characters, in the rich-yellow mark on the shoulder. In the notes accompanying the specimens, Mr. Elsey states that they were procured on the 14th of Sep- tember, 1856, in lat 18° S. and long. 141° 33' E., and that their crops contained some monocotyledonous seeds. The male has a band across the forehead, extending above the eye to its posterior angle, of very pale yellow ; on the centre of the crown a patch of black ; sides of the head, cheeks, neck, throat, upper portion of the abdomen, lower part of the back, rump, and upper tail-coverts verditer blue, somewhat green on the cheeks and upper-tail coverts ; immediately below the eye a tinge of yellow ; back of the neck, back, and scapularies light greyish brown, slightly tinged with green ; shoulder and lesser wing-coverts fine yellow ; primaries and secondaries black, margined externally with blue ; feathers of the lower part of the abdomen, vent, and under green at the base, pass- tail-coverts light scarlet, margined with greyish green ; two centre tail-feathers dark tail-feathers light green ing into deep blue towards the extremity, and tipped with dull black; the remaining crossed by an irregular oblique band of dull bluish black, beyond which they become of anes glaucous green, until they end in white; but each has a dark stain of bluish green on the outer margin near the tip; irides brown; bill and nostrils bluish horn-colour ; feet mealy grey. ; The female is similar to the male in colour, but all the hues much paler, and the markings much less strongly defined. In the young state the whole of the head, all the upper sur vat pale glaucous green; the rump and upper tail-coverts and the tail pinata not so bright ; and the lower part of the abdomen is greyish white, with faint stains ol ae fe The figures represent the male and the female of the size of life, and a reduced figure of the young in the distance. face, wing-coverts, throat, and breast are of a to the same parts in the male, but CO AOAC ACY Nok GSR my en ee <= a =O’: — hr I hel ee _ ome opr I os Ta es ee gs ie ae) a = = CYCLOPSITTA ¢ OXENI, Gowa. Coxen’s Parrakeet. Cyclopsitia Coxent, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc. 1867, p. 182 ce My thanks are due to Mr. Waller, of Brisbane. for his k; : . or his ess ill se ee . ee MPP re, which, at his request, I have | » Aindness in sending me a fine specimen of this ittle Parrak th, at his reques lave name 0) Once Le ae Re of , : = an q ee : amed after ©. Coxen, Esq., a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland, who has for many years taken a lively interest in ornitholozy. At present it j : Be 2 eee eS IS the only member of the genus Cyclopsitta that has been found in Australia ; i 3 but other species of the same form are somewhat numerous in the islands to the nor somewha thward of that country. Mr. Wallace enumerates phe paowing in nus paper S On the pools of tine Malayan Region,” published in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society for 1864, viz. :—Cyclopsitta chophthalma of the Aru Islands ; C. Desmaresté of New Guinea ; C. Blyth of Mysol; and C. lozia, C. lunulata, and C. leucophthalma of the Philippines. The history of the bird, so far as I can learn, is, that during the month of June, 1866, several specimens , who had seen a flock in the neighbourhood for some weeks, and had shot several for a pudding. Being somewhat interested in ornithology, and observing were procured about thirty miles from Brisbane, by a sawyer a difference between these and the ordinary green Parrakeet, he skinned three or four, two of which he brought to Mr. Waller, who subsequently visited the locality and succeeded in obtaining additional examples, and who, in a letter recently received from him, informs me that “the large scrubs of the mountainous district about forty or fifty miles north-west of Brisbane, which has been but little visited by Europeans, appears to be the natural home of the bird. There it sits on the large and lofty fig-trees, silent as death ; and its presence can only be detected by attentively listening to the falling of the refuse of the wild figs, upon which it seems solely to subsist, and the hard tops of which are easily cut off with its strong bill. All the specimens I examined had their crops filled with the soft interior portion; but it appears to reject the fully ripe fruit. Its colouring so closely resembles that of the large leaves with which it is sur- rounded that it almost defies detection ; and the only chance of obtaining examples is by watching the falling ] of the refuse of its food, and never moving your eyes until your have marked your bird; or it is ten to one you will be unsuccessful. When it has finished with one bunch of figs, it silently removes to another. It emits no call while on the trees, but when it leaves them utters a very low sound resembling cheep, cheep. The sexes are alike in plumage; but the female is rather larger than the male.” In size and in some other respects the Cyclopsitta Covent is nearly allied to the C. dophthalma, but ditters in the absence of scarlet on the crown and in the smaller extent of that colour on the cheeks. General plumage green ; across the forehead a narrow band of red, which allies through the lores with a large patch of the same hue on the ear-coverts, beneath which is a patch of blue ; a margined with blue; a streak of red on the tertiaries near the body; tail short and wholly green 5 bill yo Oe the upper mandible of a bluish horn-colour, blending with a whitish line at the base ; under aoa ise tips of both black ; feet pale greenish white ; nails light horn-colour, darker at the point ; irides hazel. Total length 7; inches, bill 3, wing 35, tail 2, tarsi 3. The figures are of the size of life. au ayy i (PMOL) 6 ac 1) VIVINACTIO OO ns os ee eel a pe ON en aes pe | ON a ed |) ead by SS =| = ae pat CP eon oe = Cee) co cs 411) 22 V2P LAYIOT OH ® PIN [° SMOV ELLIS dO Ou bin th I 5 my 3 UI]UUUISAIL mini a a omy Could . @ A) 9 “A LL I OC CIDEN’ Walter [rrp . J. Could & HC kachter, del ev lith GEOPSITTACUS OCCIDENTALIS Ti 2H « Nocturnal Ground-Parr Gould. akeet. Geopsittacus occidentalis, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc. 186 1, p. 100.—Id., Handb. Birds of eee oe $e I rrust that Ornithologists will not for a moment consider the present species identical with the Pezoporus formosus in any state of plumage, as a first glance at its colour and nie 5 ; s might lead them to suppose ; rT re it is not only specifically, but generically dist; 2 arn! i i i fail sure i y; g aby distinct ; and I believe that the differences in its a corresponding difference in its habits, actions, and economy, whenever they become known. Both sexes of Pezoporus have a re short bill, rounded wings, a lengthened tail, long, structure, pointed out below, will be found to be accompanied by d frontal band, a moderately thin tarsi, and long curved nails 3 while Geopsittacus is a stout, short-tailed, dumpy bird, with a bluff head, a full , round, jet-black eye, no frontal band, a very stout bill, large wings, fleshy lees, and extremely small nails—a structure which that it affects holes in rocks or the hollow boles and branches of | differences already mentioned, I observe that its nostrils are | leads me to the conclusion arge prostrate trees. Besides the arger and more fleshy, reminding us in this respect of Str7gops, to which it also assimilates in colour and markings. The precise locality inhabited by this remarkable Parrakeet is unknown to me. The specimen from which my original description w I received direct from Perth, in Western Australia; and all the infor as taken mation that accompanied it was that it came from the interior. Every part of the plumage (on the body, wings, and tail) indicates that it was fully adult ; and I trust that the time is not far distant when other examples will be collected and sent to Kurope, with an account of the habits and economy of the bird. Thus much had been written and sent to press respecting this new species, when I was informed that a living example of a strange and remarkable Parrakeet had been transmitted by Dr. Ferdinand Mueller, Director of the Botanic Garden at Melbourne, to Mr. P. L. Sclater, the Secretary of the Zoological Society of London. On visiting the Society’s gardens for the purpose of inspecting it, I found, to my great delight, that it was av example of the bird under consideration, in good health, and in the finest state of plumage. This unexpected event enables me to give a more perfect representation of the bird than I could have given from a dried skin. However much I was pleased with the sight of the living bird, I was still more so when I found my views as to some of its habits confirmed by Dr. Mueller’s letter to Mr. Sclater, in which he states that the Weal is a nocturnal one, living during the day in the rocky caves of the ranges, and coming out at night for food, like the Owls and crepuscular Nightjars. Dr. Mueller adds ae ine living individual sent by him was caught in the Gawler Ranges, situated in that part of South Se which lies westward of the head of Spencer’s Gulf, the fauna of which, we have abundant evidence to Sooe is very eel ie caine es ee of Western Australia; I have therefore very little doubt that the bird inhabits all ibe ialerreniaig districts. In its actions and disposition in a cage, the Geopszttacus qusties its oor SE for it a a been seen to perch, but moves over the floor of its domicile in ao of a muck like those of a Sparrow ; at times, however, it dashes about from corner to corner with a more ae ae EERE informs me that, like all other nocturnes, it becomes much more wakeful and active at night, mi a S tuft of grass, water-cress, millet, and canary-seed like a Rabbit. As yet it has not been heard to utter any sound, except a faint whistle. In closing this necessarily brief account of this Strigops-looking 1% Dr. Mueller, for his kindness in obligations to the Zoological Society’s valued Corresponding Member, Dr. Mueller, transmitting this singular bird to England. arrakeet, I must not omit recording our | s of k rreenish yellow ; i iT h feather crossed by irregular bands of black and greenish yellow ; All the upper surface grass-green, each fe _ 5 nd breast yellowish green . eak of black down the centre; throat and breast y sh g : Cc feathers of the crown and nape with a str ole 1 rimaries < secondaries brown us wings brown 3 pt imaries and seco C A passing into sulphur-yellow on the abdomen; spurio bs. with the exception of the first three; those s 1 nn aS, WIth 1 é j 7] ry" e on their external webs, narrowly fringed with a greenish hue o1 rs have also ar i mark of yellow near their a | feathers have also an oblique x Ol Yy two central tail-feathers dark brown, toothed on the edge of both wo central tail-reat toothed on the outer web only with brighter bands of yellow, which, in some cases, erts sulphur-yellow, crossed on their colour as the feathers approach the body ; , 5 : ach side dark brown webs with greenish yellow; the next on each side dark , Ty s Ceres aca rOosse and longer marks of yellow; the remainder dark brown, cro ue . ‘ alternate ; under tail-cov are continuous across both webs, and in others : . bill horn-colour. bands of blackish brown; 1 outer webs with narrow, oblique and irregular i : : ino 52, tail 5, tarsi 2. Potal length 10 inches, bill 4, wing 53, tail 5, te J oe marie pe pores ants ne Orlgilal s The above is the description and admeasurements 0 tl § “ ; nostrils are large and bluish grey, te ¢) bird enables me to add that the nostrils are larg the feet flesh-coloured. cimen; an inspection of the living s round, full, and jet-black, and The figures are of the natural size. bases, which increases in breadth and in depth of ¢ ’ FiO BC LW GARG. GY. /m p Iidtnandel & Walton S, Gould XK [ MULL AS S] « OPTMAGA y P A] N ( a lth del / Gendd and HC Richter, | 5 IYI mm HyIil 3 Ty om 5 in}UUN In CARPOPHAGA ASSIMILIS, Gowa. Allied Fruit Pigeon. Carpophaga assimilis, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc. 1850, p. 201. I am not surprised that an additional Fruit Pigeon should have been discovered in the northern part of Australia, since in every degree nearer the tropics palm-trees, among which these birds are principally found, become more abundant. In the more southern country of New South Wales certain districts only are favoured with the presence of these trees, such as Illawarra and the brushes, which extend along the east coast, from the Hunter to Moreton Bay ; it is in these districts only that the near ally of the present species, the Carpophaga magnifica, is to be found ; and as I have never seen the latter bird from the north coast, it may be presumed that the two birds are representatives of each other in their respective parts of the country. There exists in New Guinea another nearly allied species, to which the name of puel/a has been given by M. Lesson. ‘This bird is still smaller than the present one, and has the yellow markings at the tips of the wing-coverts in the form of round spots instead of oval blotches ; its face and neck are more grey, and its back less golden or sulphur-green, than in C. assimilis, which latter must be regarded as a diminutive representative of C. magnifica rather than an enlarged C. puella. Numerous specimens of this bird were collected on the Cape York Peninsula by Mr. MacGillivray and the officers of Her Majesty’s Ship Rattlesnake. The only outward differences between the sexes consists in the somewhat smaller size and less brilliant colouring of the female. Head, throat and ear-coverts grey; all the upper surface, wings and tail sulphur-green ; each of the wing-coverts with an oblong mark of rich yellow at the tip, forming an oblique band across the shoulder ; line down the centre of the throat, chest and abdomen rich purple; under wing-coverts, vent, thighs and under tail-coverts rich orange-yellow ; basal portion of the inner webs of the primaries and secondaries cinnamon. The figures are of the natural size. SI OO RCT NOR REGS T ey pened a ee ge he ed 5 eet hee eee Ee — > — — — _- Ce a; & aaa Bee = at an on SS Sra oe) 4 : Sos es ey eos ers S eS Ce oe oe Oe eo eo t eS ie ee > i ea 5 a c 5 4 3 IAI A Ill 2 I IH]INN} UII ony LOPHOPHAPS FERRUGINKEA, Gould Rust-coloured Bronzewing. Lophophaps ferruginea, Gould, Handb. Birds of Aust., vol. ii. aml ee we o iS > a e 2 4 For a knowledge of this species I am indebted to the researches of T. F. Gregory, Esq., a gentleman whose name, like that of his brother, A. T. Gregory, will ever be associated with Australia as one of its most successful explorers, and who informs me that “its habitat is the extreme western part of that great country, opposite Sharks’ Bay and Dirk Hartog’s Island,” and tl the Gascoigne River, almost invariably frequenting rocky ground nea than five hundred occasionally came down to drink vat he “found it in large numbers on r water; and in such situations more in less than half-an-hour. On the wing it exactly iH 4 >. e aS, a . Sis . . : resembles the common Partridge, but it is not quite so plump in the body, and does not appear ever y, not appear ever to fly in coveys. Its eggs, which are two in number, are generally laid on the ground during the months of July and August.” Besides the specimen presented to me by Mr. Gregory, I have since seen a second example, sent home by A. H. DuBoulay, Esq., of Champion Bay, Western Australia, which coincided in every respect with the individual from which my original description was taken; it is now in the British Museum. The Lophophaps ferruginea differs from L. plumifera and L. leucogaster in the nearly uniform rust-red colouring of its body and in the absence of the broad white pectoral band so conspicuous in those birds. As the present bird is abundant in the country a little to the northward of Swan River, the collections of Europe will doubtless ere long be supplied with this highly curious species. Bill olive black ; irides yellow ; lores and bare skin round the eye either crimson or orange red, bounded above and below by a narrow line of black ; forehead and a line above the black one over the eye grey ; centre of the crown and the lengthened crest-plumes cinnamon ; chin and lower part of the neck black ; centre of the throat and upper part of the ear-coverts white, lower part of the ear-coverts grey, all the under surface deep rust-red; on each side of the chest two or three narrow crescentic bars of black, the longest of which nearly meet in the centre; under tail-coverts brown, edged externally with white; under surface of the wing deep cinnamon; basal portion of the primaries rust-red, their apices brown ; a beautiful oblong bronzy-purple metal-like mark on three of the secondaries ; back of the neck and neawile alternately rayed with rust-red and dark brown; the feathers of the upper portion of the wings rayed with rusty red, blackish-brown and grey, the tips being rust-red, the centre black and the base Br ae and SERS tail-coverts rusty brown; basal half of the tail-feathers rusty brown, the apical half black; legs greenish grey inclining to purple. Total length 8 inches, bill 3, wing 4, tail 2%, tarsi 4. The figures are of the natural size. (Aa Pad I 5 AANA ULAOTTOTyOUTyOTOA UTAH jm THIN omy il LOPHOPHAPS LEUCOGASTER, Gould. White-bellied Bronzewine. t the propriety of describing ; STCa Teneo anes . ae I Ee pha proy y describing and figuring this very lovely Pigeon as distinct from Lophophaps plumifera is somewhat questionable ; but when I reflect upon the difference which I find to exist between the two birds, and ol distant are their respective homes, I cannot regard them otherwise. The ZL. plumifera inhabits the moe swoushood of the Victoria River, where six or eight were shot by the late Mr. Elsey ; Mr. Bynoe also found it in the country between Cape Hotham and Depuch Island; and Gilbert met with it in lat. 17°, while journeying with Dr. Leichardt from Brisbane to Port Essington. Now all these localities are far away from South Australia, whence the specimens here represented came; moreover the two individuals from which the opposite figures were taken are far more beautiful than those represented in vol. y. pl. 69 under the name of Geophaps plumifera; but even should it ultimately prove that the two birds are identical, and that I have encumbered science with a name which, in that case, must descend into the rank of a synonym, I feel that I shall be excused for giving additional figures of such lovely objects. The specimens from which they were taken were sent to this country by Mr. Galbraith, of Machribanish Station, South Australia, and are now in the possession of his sister, Mrs. Craufuird, of Budleigh Salterton, Devon. The question is, Are there two or three species of these charming little crested Pigeons >—the L. ferruginea, of the extreme western part of the country, the Z. plumifera, of its northern portions, and the L. leucogaster, of South Australia? If so, the latter is probably the bird seen by Captain Sturt, during his arduous travels in that country, who states :— “Tt was on the return of my party from the eastern extremity of Cooper's Creek, that we first saw and procured specimens of this beautiful little bird. Its locality was entirely confined to about thirty miles along the banks of the creek in question; it was generally perched on some rock fully exposed to the sun’s rays, and evidently taking a pleasure in basking in the tremendous heat. It was very wild, and took wing on hearing the least noise. In the afternoon it was seen running in the grass a the creek-side, ene could hardly be distinguished from a Quail. It never perched on the trees; when it dropped after rising from the ground, it could seldom be flushed again, but ran with such speed through the grass as to elude our search.” One of the principal differences between the present bird and the L. plumifera is the whiteness of it breast, and another the brightness of the rayed markings of its upper surface ; it 1s oe a Soman at larger bird. My figures, which accurately represent it of the size of life, render a detailed description unnecessary. — QD Se in ae De Og eee ee A —!#i i — — oS Sa Sy oO) le Pg ala ai ** Raat ee es ee. A ae ee a re) Zi — © = os Ch =e cs S RS = 8 hS = CASUA RIUS AUSTRAL] S, Wall. Australian Cassowary. Casuarius australis, Wall, Mlustrated Sydney Herald, June oe 1854.—Gould, in P 1857, p. 270.—Sclat. in Proc. Zool. Soe., part xxviii. 186 1867, p. 473.—Sclat. ibid., 1868, p 376.— Gould, Handb. Birds 0 — Johnsonii, Muell. in the Australasian, Dec. ae of Zool. Soc., 1867, p. 242.—Krefft, ibid., 1 Toc. of Zool. Soc., part xxy. 0, p. 210, and 1866, pp. 168, 557.—Benn. ibid., i. p. 206, 17, 1867; and Proc. Orn. of Aust, part xii. pl. 5. it Australia, vol, 1866; Melbourne Herald, Dec. 867, p. 483.—Dige, a wa Tue discovery of a species of Cassowary in Australia may be results of the later explorations of that vast portion of the globe truly noble bird represented in the accompanying Plate, group of wingless birds which formerly tenanted the ledge of its existence we are indebted to the late Mr. 5 looked Upon as one of the most interesting 3 Interesting indeed is the acquisition of the since it is one of the few remaining species of a great austral regions of our planet. Thomas Wall, who, like Gilbert, Johnson, Drummond, Burke, and Wills, and many other explorers, left his bones in the inhospitable wilds of Australia. It was communicated to the world in nearly the following words :—“ A was shot near Cape York, in one of the almost inaccessible gullies whic continent, and where, as well as in other deep and For our first know- Strange, Leichardt, specimen of this bird h abound in that part of the Australian stony valleys of that neighbourhood » It was running in com- panies of seven or eight. On that part of the north-easte ri Coast, therefore, it is probably plentiful, and will be . The bird possesses great strength in its legs, and makes use of it in the same manner as the Emu. Its whole build is more strong and heavy than the latter bird. It is very wary; but its presence may be detected by its utterance of a peculiarly loud note, which is taken up and echoed along the gullies ; and it could be easily killed with a rifle.” These particulars were published in the ‘ Illustrated Sydney Herald,’ of the 3rd of June, 1854, by Mr. Thomas Wall’s brother, Mr. William Sheridan Wall, Curator of the Australian Museum, who at the same time suggested for the ; : z : = bird the specific name of australis, a term which bas been adopted by every European ornithologist. Ina met with in all the deep gullies at the base of high hills note from Dr. Bennett, that gentleman says :—‘‘ Carron, the survivor of Kennedy’s Expedition, informed me that the Cassowary shot by Wall had a helmet or crest on the head of a black colour, and hot red as first stated, and that two specimens were shot and eaten by his party in the dense scrubs in W eymouth Bay, near Cape York, and close to the coast.” os | The next notice of the bird is contained in a communication to the Zoological Society Houtlo, on the 13th of December, 1866, by Mr. Sclater, who stated that he Lee rafogaone’ by Mr. Walter J. in who had an extensive sheep-run in the Valley of Lagoons, on the Upper Burdekin River, oo i” te westward of Rockingham Bay, that in the neighbourhood of the ae locality the bird was well known undet | te the name of the Black Emu, but was shy and very difficult to obtain. “T fear I can tell you but little respecting these birds,” says Mr. Scott ; “I have never had the fortune a Pl C ived informati ir being seen on three or four occasions, in to meet with one myself, but have received information of their bei - Pe oe ‘s of the native ‘e, returning from < succes: spots thirt forty miles apart. Some black troopers of the native police, re ! a Bear one thee x r Vale of Herbert Station (in lat. 18° S.), who were suit of one they had seen about three miles from our Vale o oe 0 wel Me ehitinr cick, E inf 1 that the bird they had seen was quite distinct from it. iliar wi } formed me that the y ha . familiar with the Common Emu, it Mere ee an tation told me, on a former occasion, he had seen two Black Emus, but yy . S a3 i Fe Re en some stat Fa loyment saw one on the ‘ Separation Creek thought they were a mere variety. Another person in our employr e : S 9 i ,' ich is really a tri ry of the Herbert River. i We sa: followi ommunication from Dr. Mueller appeared in the r 15th, 1866, the following ¢ é Two days later, December 15th, ; $ ’ lg ni stpylacy: eae Melbourne newspaper, ‘The Australasian’: vin trast tuk a seat tt i i e EXiS of an Australian true casoar, ae ae “For the intelligence of the existence : . Rt bi : am indebted to G. Randall Johnson, Esq., who in Sey 2 liminarily its specific characters, I am indebted to G. i "nada eee sexi aE i rie Creek scrub the only spe isi dnghe ay, S n the Gowrie Creek j nee ee on a visit to Rockingham Bay, shot 1 1 eee sca ene RMT eldleersear a o better than to g i > ish it s ear ; and I cannot . yet obtained, and whose name I wish it should bear ; « ie es : 7 ‘ oentieme : publicity to the lucid remarks transmitted to me by that ge m rts scrubs, and se Ir 2 re open parts of the | i itself < st entirely to the more o] hese se aa ON occ sic oomhe +t. and September its food consists chiefly of an August, and Se] : ce This, together with herbage, probably ? 5 ldom ventures far out on the plains. During the months of July, ruit of a large tree. sedi hnnanarale ee me a ie t its habits have been so little observed that hardly | i » year; but at present its hé é diet, at least for that portion of the year; , ; 5 she 299 se PeSalaten Clennine anything is known concerning them. ie Ae oiatabfoniy, 180% Mi Selater neleneine ; y ical Society of London, o 20 . At the meeting of the Zoological Society o to the above communication, remarked that the bird described by Dr. Mueller was no doubt the Casuarius australis of Gould; and with reference to the specimen in the Sydney Museum, Mr. W. Carron addressed a i letter to the Editor of the ‘ Sydney Herald’ on the 8th of February, 1867, in which he says :—* I have just seen the bird sent to the Museum by Mr. Johnson, and think it identical with that shot by Mr. Wall in the vicinity of Weymouth Bay in November 1848. [I am aware that in the few remarks on Mr. Wall’s bird, which appear in my narrative of Kennedy’s expedition, there is an error as to the colour of the helmet or comb, which was black, not red. . . . As I was present when Wall’s bird was shot, and helped to eat it, I had a good opportunity of knowing something respecting it. Instead of going in flocks of five or six together, it is certainly a solitary bird, and would appear to be very scarce, as only two others were seen by our party during the whole journey from Rockingham Bay to my furthest camp at Weymouth Bay, in latitude 12° 25'S. This bird had shorter but larger legs, a heavier body, and shorter neck than the Emu. It appears to confine itself to the gullies in the thick jungles with the Brash-Turkeys and Jungle-fowl, feeding on the various fruits found there, even swallowing the large seeds of Castanospermum and Pandanus. Mr. Wall took every care of the skin he was able to do; but it was completely destroyed before he died, together with my own specimens at Weymouth Bay. This bird was certainly very large, and furnished our whole party with a better supper and breakfast than we had enjoyed for some months, or than poor Wall was destined to enjoy again (as he and all his companions, with the exception of myself and one other, had died in six weeks after from want of food); but there was not one in the party who would not have eaten more if he could have got it, every meal having been divided with the greatest nicety for a long time.” On the 11th of June, 1868, Mr. Sclater exhibited to the Zoological Society a very fine and perfect skin of the Casuwarius australis, which had been transmitted to him by Mr. Charles J. Scott, of Queensland, and was believed to be the first example that had reached Europe. Along with the specimen Mr. Scott for- warded a careful description and sketch of the head and naked parts of the neck, which Mr. Sclater very kindly placed in my hands, and thus enabled me to give the annexed correct illustration, of the size of life. Mr. Sclater remarked that some naturalists had been inclined to doubt whether the Casuarius australis would prove to be really distinct from the well-known Casuartus galeatus of Ceram, but he believed that no one who examined the present specimen could any longer doubt upon the matter. The following appeared to him to be noticeable points of distinction between the two species :— The crest of the Australian bird is of a different shape from that of C. galeatus, rising much more erect from the head, and attaining a much greater development than in even the largest examples of the latter species. In C. australis also the crest is extremely compressed towards the edges, terminating in two thin | laminee of horn united in a medial line. The tarsi are thicker and stouter, and the elongated claw on the inner toe of C. australis is straighter and much more developed. The following stated dimensions of the present specimen appear to indicate that the species attains a much greater size than C. galeatus:— Total length, from the summit of the helmet to the end of the caudal feathers, about 72 inches ; total height of the crest, from its base to the summit, 5°8; distance from the gape to the end of the bill, mn a straight line, 6:1; length of tarsus 13°3; length of the inner toe with the nail 6°3, nail of ditto 3°53 length of the middle toe with the nail 7-0, outer ditto with the nail 4°5. The wing in C. australis is composed of four or five strong barbless quills, and terminated, as in other species of the genus, by a well- developed claw. The gular caruncle appears rather to resemble that of C. galeatus, being divided nearly down to its base, and terminating in two flaps. It may, perhaps, be thought that my representation of the head and neck is too highly coloured ; but I must remind my readers that, as is the case with the salacious Turkey and the equally hot Zalegadla, those parts of the Cassowary are very different in appearance at opposite seasons ; and thus the bare skin of the neck may be smooth at one period and corrugated at another. I have had abundant evidence that such is the case with the examples of Casuarius galeatus which have lived and bred in the Gardens of the Zoological Society for many years past, and I feel assured that what takes place in one species also occurs in the other. I have so many gentlemen to thank for the assistance they have rendered me respecting this important bird, that I am fearful lest I may omit to name some one or more of them ; if this should be the case, I hope the seeming negligence may be regarded as mere inadvertence. To Mr. Arthur J. Scott and his brothers I am especially indebted, and not less so to Dr. Bennett of Sydney (who sent me a photograph of the spe- cimen in the Sydney Museum), to Professor M‘Coy and Dr. Mueller of Melbourne, Victoria, C. Coxen, Esq., of Brisbane, and Mr. Sclater. I do not append a description of the bird, because my plates will convey far more readily its appearance and colouring than any words, however characteristic and expressive. One of the annexed illustrations represents the head and legs, of the size of life; the other an entire figure of the bird, necessarily much reduced. NU G Two € dull li Vv tll ¢ lh Fh 2 77. of bur @ op chi the vas an rec pec life pre The gro bec fort wit nan) rem. muc does exan Zool Apte Stru attra (0) comi clon be m thick ridge them obliq Plate refer Moor body, with | of a of the {0 my bird ‘ these fentle Dr, steate the vo CASUARIUS BENNETTI, Bennett’s Cassow Gould. ary. Casuarius Bennetti, Gould in Proe. of Zool. Soc., part xxv. p- 271, pl. 144.—Dr. Bennett in Proc. of Zool. Mooruk, Aborigines of New Britain. Pp. 269, pl. 129.—Gray in Proc, of Zool. Soc., part. xxvi, Soc., part xxvii, p. 32. Sea a Wuo would have supposed the former existence of an extensive group of Str and what naturalist of the bony structures of these birds would have be uthious birds of great would have imagined that so en brought to light—that not only their specific characters -may be accurately described, and even th museums? Yet these things have been realized within the | and careful study of an Owen having enabled him to dete of numerous species of a great family of birds which for few remain to testify as to the character of their magnitude and comprising many species ? much their generic but eir entire skeletons mounted in our ast few years, the indefatigable zeal rmine and arrange the semi-fos merly existed on our globe, plumage and their economy of life. ms the subject of the present paper, of which must be hailed with interest, tending as it does to throw a | birds of remote antiquity—the Dinornis and its allies. Cassowary ( Caswarius galeatus) to be the most nearly silized remains and of which some It isa living repre- sentative of this almost extinct group that for and the discovery ight on the history of those huge Professor Owen considers this new bird and the allied living types of his genus Palapteryex ; and if this opinion be correct, we may infer that the habits and economy, as well as the kind of plumage and the character of country inhabited by the extinct birds, were very similar. I have always considered the Cassowary to belong to a totally different group to the Ostriches, which ar vast plains and open country during the day-time, and to feed e adapted for roaming over upon berries, fruits, mollusks and small animals generally ; while the Cassowary, the Mooruk, and the Apteryx are partially or wholly nocturnal, living reclusely in the gullies and humid parts of dense forests, feeding upon the roots of ferns and other plants peculiar to such situations. The hair-like character of their feathers bespeak these habits and mode of d s SIL life, as much as the plumes of the Ostriches do their adaptation for open plains and savannahs. Having 2 . n Bane ai etas : . ; premised thus much, I now proceed to state that it has been a source of much gratification to myself, that 1 = > > Pay ay) fn ay ‘ - |e tledo: Pre I have been enabled, through the kindness of Dr. Bennett of Sydney, further to add to out knowledge of this group by making known the existence of an entirely new species of Caswarius ; I mention my gratification, 5 c oye) . i is tc > of st rtant < ons rnithology I have ever had the good because I consider this to be one of the most important additions to orn gy The — : g . i Ef i f scientific wor is true the Same remark might be made fortune,to bring before the notice of the scientific world. It is true that the sé | ; . : a." : 2 Gore See or extraordinary birds ave had the pleasure o with regard to Baleniceps, the Menura Alberti, and many other extraordinary birds I have ha 7 F f ee 5 . y Ks . fz) . y . 3 : : I . TY L ne are members a nearly extinct family of birds, the naming ; but the present species and the Apterya Owent are members of a ne: as amily ; te 5 Oo : _ ee aN yy a . Je Vv nnants of a group which played an important part in the economy of nature in periods long gone by O1 remna € ye : é a ae h h, then, does science owe to Dr. Bennett for having secured and sent this bird to London! and how muc muc > > x ) . aA a = i . ne ea iberality ! Th e : ; able don: ; deposite ve to him for his liberality ! re does the Society in whose possession this valuable donation is deposited, owe qe i ‘ rer speci 3, orace ardens o - i id @ ale ¢ 7O younger specimens, grace the G ; rd, a splendid adult male and two young examples of this fine bird, a s| . oe vel Rie ae ae etter 7 e Ostrich, the Rhea, the Emeu, : ; rhere they live side by side with th : gical Society of London, where J j eee - : : assowary. All are in good health ; and such a display of great Apteryx, and its allied congener, the Cassowary. All < 8 hath See . bof a and probably never will be again, and ought alone to be « Struthious birds was never before seen, and probably g attraction for visitors to this justly popular om tical as to its being specifically distinct from the : rst Mooruk yas somewhat sceptical a: g j ; On the arrival of the first Mooruk, I was 2 i a the helmet became more developed, this suspi- AG » bird increased in size, anc ; , 4 common Cassowary ; but as the bird increasec he bi 1 is fully adult, it is apparent that no two species can i ; Cr ind: < 7 that the bird 1s Tully ¢ » WAS : : ets an wow the he Mooruk is a smaller and shorter bird, and has much a: ae » Cassowary, the Mooruk is as é be more distinct. Compared with the Cassowary, t oe f an’ elevated easciue niteee mememned : Ficte: ing in the form of ¢ vate at thicker legs; and the helmet, instead of being i hanging lobes, the horny part which unites : : ora o ranches into two overhanging : oe : : ridge, rises high at the base, and then branches out ‘ole. crest bolita MRE teeette : the back part of this elevated doub 5 el st ji centre . Genin > accompanying pen Be ugsewest-in the ‘put. This feature has been carefully depicted in the < | be : : eee Pe head near the es its form will therefore be more clearly perceived by < Plate, which represents the head of the size of life ; Thies colonting. eo mcte i é minute. ripti fever accurate and r reference to the Plate than by any description, however < Se ae ae | : i ix i ack y 1 ived in England, was rufous mixed with bla a ee Mooruk, when it first arrived in England, ne ie ae the loose wav} a ee shade of green; and the feet and legs we Cc : arker, the bare skin of the fore part : . I am much indebted ey: reast 5 body, and raven-black about the neck and brea ‘ en X a ; 3 i s 5 r an OCcCc c with iridescent tints of bluish purple, pink, and < renerally d : as ecome generally las » body has now b g ¢ pee it a and the lees of a somewhat darker t ee es . accurate drawing of the young sta accurd 2 Ts 5 ES o the great trouble he has taken in making : 3) of the neck of a more uniform smalt He “eee to my friend, G. F. Angas, Esq., of Sydney, for a ae an . aia bird : and I cannot too strongly express my one : : that have reached me: it is pleasing to ind é these correct delineations, as well as ecins a way. ifested the gentleman who has the power, willing to aid ae ’ sae compliment to one who has ae ae eee Dr. Bennett, after whom I have named the bird = - cae birds to the Zoological es living in greatest love for Natural History, besides presenting : a cee as to the habits of the bird while g the volumes of their « Proceedings” with some interesting his possession at Sydney—some in the form of letters to myself, others as direct communications ; and these I have great pleasure in reproducing here. 5 “‘T send you an account of a new species of Cassowary, recently brought to Sydney by Captain Devlin in the cutter ‘Oberon.’ It was procured from the natives of New Britain, an island in the South Pacific Ocean, near to New Guinea, where it is known by the name of ‘ Mooruk.’ 'The precise locality in which the bird was obtained was a native village under two hills named by navigators the Mother and Daughter, on that part of the coast of New Britain lying between Cape Palliser and Cape Stephen. Ze “The feet and legs, which are very large and strong, are of a pale ash-colour, and exhibit a remarkable peculiarity in the extreme length of the claw of the inner toe on each foot, it bemg nearly three times the length which obtains in the claws of the other toes. This bird, which is immature, also differs from the Caswarius galeatus in having a horny plate instead of a helmet-like protuberance on the top of the head, which callous plate has the character of, and resembles, mother-of-pearl darkened with black lead: the form of the bill differs considerably from that of the Emu (Dromaius Nove-Hollandie), being narrower, longer, and more curved, and having a black and leathery cere at the base ; behind the plate of the head is a small tuft of black hair-like feathers, which are continued in greater or lesser abundance over most parts of the neck.” In Dr. Bennett’s next communication, direct to the Society, he says :— ‘On the 26th of October, 1858, the ‘Oberon’ cutter of forty-eight tons arrived in Sydney, having two fine young specimens of the ‘ Mooruk’ on board, stated to be male and female. The captain informed me he had had them eight months, that he procured them soon after his arrival at New Britain, and since that time had been trading about the islands. They were about half the size of the specimen sent to England last year. Captain Devlin informs me that the natives capture them when very young, and rear them by hand. ‘The old birds are very swift of foot, and possess great strength in the legs; on the least alarm they elevate the head, and, seeing danger, dart among the thick bush, thread about in localities where no human being could follow them, and disappear like magic. Their powers of leaping are very extraordinary. It was from this circumstance the first bird brought from New Britain was lost: from its habit of leaping, it one day made a spring on the deck and went overboard; it was blowing a strong breeze at the time, and the bird perished. In warm weather, the Captain informs me, they are fond of having a bucket of salt water thrown over them, and seem to enjoy it very much. I succeeded in purchasing these birds ; and Captain Slater (the present commander of the ‘Oberon’”) brought them to my house in a cab; and when placed in the yard, they walked about as tame as turkeys. They approached any one that came into the yard, pecking the haad as if desirous of being fed, and were very docile. They began by pecking at a bone in the yard, probably not having tasted any meat for some time, and would not, while engaged upon it, touch some boiled potatoes which were thrown to them ; indeed we found afterwards they fed better out of a dish than from the ground—no doubt, having been accustomed early to be fed in that manner. They were as familiar as if born and bred among us fur years, and did not require time to reconcile them to their new situation, but became sociable and quite at home at once. We found them next day rather too tame, or, like spoilt pets, too often in the way. One or both of them would walk into the kitchen; while one was dodging under the tables and chairs, the other would leap upon the table, keeping the cook in a state of excitement; or they would be heard chirping in the hall, or walk into the hbrary in search of food or information, or walk up stairs, and then be quickly seen descending again, making their peculiar chirping, whistling noise: not a door could be left open, but in they walked, familiar with all. They kept the servants constantly on the alert : if one of them went to open the door, on turning round she found a ‘Mooruk’ behind her; for they seldom went together, generally wandering apart from each other. If any attempt was made to turn them out by force, they would dart rapidly round the room, dodging about under the tables, chairs, and sofas, and then end by squatting down under a sofa or in a corner ; and it was impossible to remove the bird, except by carrying it away: on attempting this, the long, powerful, muscular legs would begin kicking and struggling, and soon get released, when it would politely walk out of its own accord. I found the best method was to entice them out, as if you had something eatable in the hand, when they would follow the direction in which you wished to lead them. The housemaid attempting to turn the bird out of one of the rooms, it gave her a kick and tore her dress. They walked into the stable among the horses, poking their bills into the manger. When writing in my study, a chirping, whistling noise is heard; the door, which is ajar, is pushed open, and in walk the ‘Mooruks,’ who quietly pace round the room, inspecting everything, and then as peaceably go out again. If any attempt is made to turn them out, they leap and dodge about, and exhibit a wonderful rapidity of movement, which no one would suppose possible from their quiet gait and manner at other times. Even in the very tame state of these birds, I have seen sufficient of them to know that, if they were loose in a wood, it would be im- possible to catch them, and almost as difficult to shoot them. One day, when apparently frightened at something that occurred, I saw one of them scour round the yard at a swift pace, and speedily disappear under the archway so rapidly that the eye could hardly follow it, upsetting all the poultry in its progress that could not get out of the way. The lower half of the stable-door, about 4 feet high, was kept shut, to prevent them going in; but this proved no obstacle, as it was easily leaped over by these birds. They never appeared to take any notice of, or be frightened at, the Jabiru or Gigantic Crane, which was in the same yard, although that sedate, stately bird was not pleased at their intrusion. One day I remarked the Jabiru spreading his long wings, and clattering his beak, opposite one of the ‘ Mooruks,’ as if in ridicule of their wingless condition. ‘Mooruk,’ on the other hand, was pruning its feathers, and spreading out its funny little apology for wings, as if proud of displaying the stiff horny shafts with which they were adorned. Captain Devlin says the natives consider them to a certain degree sacred, rear them as pets, and have great affection for them; he is not aware that they are used as food, but if so, not generally ; indeed, their shy disposition and power of rapid running, darting through the brake and bush, would almost preclude their capture. “The height of the largest or male of these young birds, to the top of the back, was 2 feet 2 inches, and of the female 2 feet. The height of the largest or male bird, when erect, to the top of the head, was 3 feet 2 inches, and of the female 3 feet.”’ An egg presented to me by Dr. Bennett, which I believe to be truly that of the Mooruk, is 54 inches long by 3} inches broad; the ground-colour very pale buff, with the entire surface covered with pale-green corrugations. One of the accompanying Plates represents the head and neck of the Mooruk of the natural size; the other an adult reduced, with a young bird in the distance. I am happy to acknowledge the assistance rendered me in the preparation of these drawings by Mr. Wolf, Mr. Richter, and Mr. Wood. YP?) PP P22? MPZUY OP, Df JOUR JOPPOD If BADLY PILL O24 ¥ Po? ey CASUARIUS UNIAPPENDICULATUS, B lyth. One-carunculated Cassowary. Casuarius, new sp., Blyth, Ibis, 1860, p. 193. Hist., 3rd ser., vol. vi. p. 145. ee unappendiculatus, Blyth, Journ. of Asiat. Soc. Beng,, vol. xxix. pp. 112, 113 ———~ uniappendiculatus, Benn. Ibis, 1860, p. 403, pl. xlv.—Ibis, 1862, p- 78.—Sclat, Trans. Zool. Soc., vol. iv p- 359, pl. 74.—Sclat. Proc. of Zool. Soc., 1863, p. 225; 1866, pp. 34, 168. | oe ———— uno-appendiculatus, Blyth, Ibis, 1860, p. 307.—Benn. Ibis, 1860, p. 403.—Blyth, Ann. and Mae. Nat Hist., 3rd ser., vol. vi. p. 113. : 2 . ———— Kaupi, Rosenb. Journ. fiir Ovrn,, of Zool. Soc., 1861, p. 438, —Sclat. in Proc. of Zool. Soc., 1860, p. 210.—Ann. and Mag. Nat. 1861, p. 44, Taf. i. figs. 12, 13; Ibis, 1861, p.312.—G. R. Gray, Proc. On the preceding Plate I have illustrated that remarkable bird, the Mooruk (Casuarius Bennett?) ; on the present one I give a representation of another no less fine species in its fully adult state, of the same family, the native country of which is said to be New Guinea and the adjacent islands, particularly that of Salawatty ; hence, if not a native of Australia, its habitat is almost as near to that country as Ireland is to England. Like the Casuarius Bennetti and the C. australis, the C. unappendiculatus is a fine addition to the group of existing Struthiones. When the first living example came under my notice in the Gardens of the Zoological Society of Amsterdam, I did not rest until I had obtained a drawing of the bird from life, being well aware it would eventually die, and that, without such a record, the knowledge of the colouring of its soft parts would in all probability be lost to science. Fortunately Mr. Robert Kretschmar, of Leipzig, offered to make me such a drawing ; and a copy of it, with but little alteration, is here given. The Casuarius umappendiculatus appeared to be a bold and spirited bird, and to be taller than any other species of the genus I had seen alive. Unfortunately it is now dead; but its skin graces, I believe, the fine Museum at Leyden. To these brief remarks I append all that is known respecting the species. For our first knowledge of its existence we are indebted to Mr. Blyth, who, in a letter to the Editor of ‘The Ibis’ (1860, p. 193), speaks of a Cassowary living in the aviary of the Babu Rajendra Mullick, with ‘“‘a yellow throat, a single yellow throat-wattle, and a long stripe of naked yellow skin down each side of the neck.” Soon afterwards Mr. Blyth characterized it, in the ‘Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,’ and in another letter to the Editor of ‘The Ibis,’ for the same year, p. 307, says, ‘‘ I have described it as Casuarius uno-appendiculatus—rather a long name, but descriptive of its most strongly marked peculiarity.” The next notice of it is contained in a communication to ‘The Ibis’ for the same year from my friend Dr. George Bennett, of Sydney, then residing for a short time in Europe; his reemmalss have reference to a Amsterdam specimen, which, he says, ‘‘ differs in many characters from 20) of the hitherto known species. It appears to be about half-grown, and the casque 1s not yet Cee Ulne cheeks are of a bluish green ; the throat carunculated, and of a bright ochreous colour, terminating in a single wattle ; on each side of the neck a bare space, also of a bright ochreous colour, with a slight crimson Hoge In general appearance the bird otherwise resembles the Common Cassowary of about the same age. These characters poems so nearly Mr. Blyth as living in the menagerie of the Babu Rajendra Mullick, at Calcutta, with the bird mentioned by Be On the label is written, ‘Caswarius uni-appen- as to induce me to regard it as probably of the same species. a Cae ; i Maria,” from | ‘ca Islands,’ without designating any island in parti- diculatus, Blyth. Ship ‘‘ Agatha and Maria,” from Molucca Islands,’ witl gnating any | cular.” - ‘ : ey er * re In January 1861 the bird was announced, in the ‘ Journal ftir Ornithologie, Pp . a as a new discovery in the island of Salawatty, and called Casuarius Kaupi. ‘This announcemen ; : : 2 x © > en following remarks :—* Hitherto there have been only three Cassowaries known—one . that which occurs in New Guinea G. von Rosenberg, of Amboyna, was accompanied by the Be from Australia, and a third from New Britain 5 ; The New-Guinea species, which I have called escapes from the hunters in the from Ceram, another onsidered identical with the Ceram bird. ; rare, but it is so uncommonly shy that it easily oe hy it has hitherto escaped the notice of orm ologists. By ¢ at one of my hunters obtained an old male has usually been ¢ C. Kau, is not very thick forests; this is, I suppose, the reason w es le : eS eee I found I had to do with an entirely new on the west coast of Salawatty; and as soon as It came a are , Sclater read an ic the meeting of the Zoological Society of London, on the 27th of ee pe extract from a ae addressed to him by Dr. Schlegel of Leyden, ane a oe ee oe recently received seven specimens of a Cassowary, collected by the late trave ; j and on the coast of New Guinea opposite to Salawatty, in the same locality where Rosenberg obtained his Casuarius Kay. The species proved to be C. uniappendiculatus, Blyth, the same as that of the fine specimen . alive in the Amsterdam Gardens, the single caruncle not being developed in the younger bird ; it appeared, therefore, that C. Aaupi of Rosenberg must be regarded as identical with C. wniappendiculatus, Blyth. In Mr. Blyth’s remarks on the Babu Rajendra Mullick’s specimen, which unfortunately died when probably about half-grown, he says :—‘‘ It entirely resembles Caswarius galeatus of the same age in general structure ; but in the colouring of the plumage there is a considerably less admixture of black than is seen in an ordi- . nary Cassowary of the same size, the only marked distinction consisting in the very different arrangement and predominating yellow of the bright colours of the neck, and in the single small yellow caruncle in front | of the neck, in place of the two larger and bright-red caruncles of the common species. Again, the nude | skin of the lower part of the neck is smooth or comparatively tense, and not tumous or wrinkled as in the | other. I remark, also, in the stuffed specimen, along the medial third of the back, a nude line, about three- eighths of an inch broad, parting the feathers, which flow on each side. Unfortunately the body was thrown away, not even the sex having been ascertained; but the sexes in this genus hardly differ in appearance.” At the meeting of the Zoological Society of London, held on the 23rd of January, 1866, Mr.‘Sclater ex- hibited an egg which had been laid by the female bird in the Zoological Gardens of Amsterdam, and remarked that it was of the usual form and colour of the eggs of the genus Caswarius, being of a pale | green, thickly covered with raised spots of dark green, and measuring 5:4 by 3°6 inches.” One Plate represents the entire bird, the figure being necessarily greatly reduced; the other, two heads and necks, the front one of which is the size of life, the other somewhat smaller. UTD J? YP PNPRT IL ® PINOD (? Buy 277044 1SVO Wo { ev it 4S< A Vig! Ri % A oN ewan 7 aA > co ry O a) ee (2) A WAM on BIEN re (CP) ATC SOR Pry eS —_ — —_ ee " os A a apn aI 9 4 & NOTORNIS MANTELLL Owen. Notornis. Notornis Mantelli, Owen in Trans. of Zool. Soe. » Vol. iii. p. 3 in Ib., 1850. 77.—Mantell in Proc. of Zool. Soc., 1850.—Gould a THE acquisition of a new species is always a matter of great interest; but when, as in the present instance, it is of one so nearly extinct as to be only previously by its fossil or seml-fossilized remains, the degree; it is well known that the e but for Mr. Walter Mantell’s fortun shared by the present bird, the characters of which were first made known to us by Professor Owen from the semi-fossilized remains previously obtained and sent home by the same talented explorer after whom it is named. . known to us interest becomes enhanced in the highest xistence of the celebrated Dodo is all but traditionary, a fate which, ate acquisition of a living = 5 example, would probably have been That few living examples remain, is evident fr 5 possession is the only one that has yet been is comprised in the following interesting om the fact that the mounted specimen in Dr. Mantell’s seen; all the information respecting it that has been obtained account communicated by him to the Zoological Society of London, and published in their ‘“ Proceedings ” for 1850 :— “This bird was taken by some sealers who were pursuing their avocations in Dusky Bay. Perceiving the trail of a large and unknown bird on the snow with which the ground was then covered, they followed the foot-prints till they obtained a sight of the Notornis, which their dogs instantly pursued, and after a long chase caught alive in the gully of a sound behind Resolution Island. _ It ran with great speed, and upon being captured uttered loud screams, and fought and struggled violently ; it was kept alive three or four days on board the schooner and then killed, and the body roasted and ate by the crew, each partaking of the dainty, which was declared to be delicious. My son fortunately secured the skin. “Mr. Walter Mantell states, that, according to the native traditions, a large Rail was contemporary with the Moa, and formed a principal article of food among their ancestors. It was known to the North Islanders by the name of ‘ Moho,’ and to the South Islanders by that of ‘ Zakahé’; but the bird was con- sidered by nai natives and Europeans to have been long since exterminated by the wild cats and dogs, not an individual having been seen or heard of since the arrival of the English colonists. That intelligent observer, the Rey. Richard Taylor, who has so long resided in the islands, had never heard of a bird of this kind having been seen. In his ‘Leaf from the Natural History of New Zealand,’ under the head of ‘Moho,’ is the following note: ‘Rar, colour black, said to be a wingless bird a large as a fowl, with red beak and legs; it is nearly exterminated by the cat: its cry was ‘keo, keo.’’ The pacer ey and eee of this description prove it to be from native report and not from actual observation. To the cee of the pahs or villages on the homeward route, and at Wellington, the a was a Powe Hoey and excited much interest. I may add, that upon comparing the head of the be va the fossil cranium and man: dibles, and the figures and descriptions in the ‘ Zoological Se my son was at once convinced of their identity; and so delighted was he by the discovery of a living example of one of the supposed extinct contemporaries of the Moa, that he immediately wrote to une, ut mentioned that the Soe beaks were alike in the recent and fossil specimens, and that the abbreviated and Hed e development of the wings, both in their bones and plumage, were in ee accordance oh a a oe ae the fossil humerus and sternum found by him at Waingongoro, and now in the British Museum, as poi out by Professor Owen in the memoir above referred to. vvinw example of a ene “In concluding this brief narrative of the discovery of a living a a , oe : pe ae emi Colossa! Moa, and nee a ae a ae ane to the Geren highly interesting fact tends to confirm the conclusions expres is “sith cc ee Society, namely, that the Dinornis, Palapteryx, and related forms, were coeve ae ee e.. of i. peculiar to New Zealand, and thet a final extinction took place at no very distant period, and long after the advent oe aboriginal ae - a pigantie Ikind of Berphym, bacon neeatrs Upon a cursory view of this bird it might be mistal a es i: _ Fe Se ell edl eo Pe sale eG nation of its structure it will be found to be generically distinct. : : : ; st, while in the feebleness of its bill and in its general colouring, and to Trzbonyx in Ce eee ae its wings and the structure of its tail it differs Oe oe Tce wae F : nal observation of the habits of Zribonya and Porphyrio, ‘ : oe in tl semble those of the former than 5 res ird more closely resemble habits and economy of the present birc mn ine a latter; that it i doubtless of a recluse and extremely shy disposition; that bemg dey j atter; that it is ‘ é structure of its wing, of the power of flight, it is compelled to depend upon its swiftness of foot for the means of evading its natural enemies; and that, as is the case with Zribonyx, a person may be in its vicinity for weeks without ever catching a glimpse of it. From the thickness of its plumage and the great length of its back-feathers, we may infer that it affects low and humid situations, marshes, the banks of rivers, and the coverts of dripping ferns, so abundant in its native country: like Porpfyrio, it doubtless enjoys the power of swimming, but would seem, from the structure of its legs, to be more terrestrial in its habits than the members of that genus. I have carefully compared the bill of this example with that figured by Professor Owen under the name of Notornis Mantelli, and have little doubt that they are referable to one and the same species. I cannot conclude these remarks without bearing testimony to the very great importance of the results which have attended the researches of Mr. Walter Mantell in the various departments of science to which he has turned the attention of his inquiring mind, nor without expressing a hope that he may yet be enabled to obtain some particulars as to the history of this and the other remarkable birds of the country in which he is resident. Head, neck, breast, upper part of the abdomen and flanks purplish blue; back, rump, upper tail-coverts, lesser wing-coverts and tertiaries dark olive-green, tipped with verditer-green; at the nape of the neck a band of rich blue separating the purplish blue of the neck from the green of the body; wings rich deep blue, the greater coverts tipped with verditer green, forming crescentic bands when the wing is expanded ; tail dark green; lower part of the abdomen, vent and thighs dull bluish black; under tail-coverts white ; bill and feet bright red. Total length of the body, 26 inches; bill, from the gape to the tip, 21; from the tip to the posterior edge of the plate on the forehead, 3; wing, 8:; tail, 31; tarsi, 34; middle toe, 3; nail, 4; hind-toe, 7; Te oes The Plate represents the bird in two positions of the natural size. AUMAGINN LISA LANTpETy OAT TT TTY " " y y S RUS = if Swe Valter, Lnp JS Gould & HC Richter uldy & LC Richter I Ge Nielier, Lerige ee CS oR ee oy j ACTITURUS BARTRAMIUS. Bartram’s Sandpiper. Tringa Bartramia, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. vii, p. 63 pl. 59. fic. 9 : , » DO, . 0 + a Totanus Bartramius, Bonap. Syn. Birds of Unit. States p 262.—G ld gael arn) Bor-Ame pen pao | Bartramia, Temm. Man. @’Orn., tom. ii. Pp. 650, and tom. iy Tringa longicauda, Bechst. Vog., Nacht. p. 453 Actitis Bartramia, Naum. Naturg. Deuts. pl. 196 gS i ainiis, Bonap. Sage. Distr. Met. An. Vert.—Gould, Ha db. Bi i Bartramia laticauda, Less. Traité d’Orn., p. 553 aa Eulga Bartramia, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 169. Totanus variegatus, Vieill. Gal. des Ois., Birds of Europe, vol. iy. pl. 313.—Swains p. 415. tom. ii. p. 107, pl. ecexxxix, = campestris et melanopygius, Vieill. Nouv. Dict. d’Hist. Nat., 2° édit. tom. vi Tringoides Bartramius, G. R. Gray, Gen. of Birds, vol. iii p. 574 . ae an Tuat the Dire : 2 . a ee ne the Museum of Sydney are imbued with feelings of liberality and courtesy, I have ad abundant p s; for w er ee : 3 nee 3 ¢ ant proofs; for whenever Zoological science could be advanced through their instrumentality they have ever readily responded to the requests pr if offered by myself and other naturalists of their father- the opportuni P figurine res ies i i WY colume to the ‘Birds .¢ cs pportunity of figuring the present species in this sup] ary e to the irds of Australia,’ from the only example that has yet been taken in that country, and which they kindly transmitted to me some years since on loan for that purpose. The note accompanying it stated that it had been killed by an old sportsman, while snipe-shooting near the reservoir : QI S ; between the town of Sydney and Botany Bay in 1848, and that on dissection it proved to be a male and had the stomach filled with < ic insects. The ac Boren he ee . ; B d with aquatic insects. The accompanying figure having been taken, the specimen referred to was returned to the Museum in 1861; and there it doubtless still exists, affording undeniable evidence of the wandering disposition of a bird whose natural home is the New World, where it ranges : 5 land; and it is to them that I am indebted for over the temperate portions of the United States, Mexico, Guatemala, and some of the West-Indian Islands ; it is also occasionally found in Europe, and even in England. That it should extend its range to the antipodes is most remarkable. It will be seen, by the list of synonyms, that this bird has been removed from the true Tringe and Totani, with which it was originally associated, and that various generic appellations have been applied to it: of these Bartramia appears to have the priority ; but this term not being generally adopted, I have preferred that of Actiturus, proposed by Bonaparte. The best accounts of this species are contained in the works of Wilson and Audubon, the latter of whom states that it is the most truly terrestrial of all its tribe with which he was acquainted; for although not unfrequently met with in the vicinity of shallow pools, the muddy margins of the shores of the sea, and fresh- water lakes and streams, it never ventures to wade into them. ‘The dry upland plains of Opellousas and Attacapas in Louisiana are amply tenanted with these birds in early spring and in autumn. They arrive there in the beginning of March from the vast prairies of Texas and Mexico, where they spend the winter, and return about the first of August. They are equally abundant on all the western prairies on both sides of the Missouri, where, however, they arrive about a month later than in Louisiana, whence they disperse over the United States, reaching the middle districts early in May, and the State of Maine by the middle of that month, at about which period they are also seen in Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio. That some proceed as far north as the plains adjoming the Saskatchewan River is certain; for Dr. Richardson there met with examples in the month of May. In the neighbourhood of New Orleans, where the bird is oon) by the name of “ Papabote,” it usually arrives in great bands in spring, and is met with on ibe open oe gud large grassy savannas, and usually remains about a fortnight. On their ae Soe in the pore of August, when they tarry in Louisana until the Ist of October, they are st and ioe In spring, when they are poor and thin, they are usually much less shy than in anti es ice period they are ee wary and difficult of approach. Like all experienced travellers, Bartram’s popes appears to a ommod ae egards food; for in Louisiana it feeds on Cantharides and other Coleopterous itself to circumstances as r : in the Carolinas on crickets insects; in Massachusetts on grasshoppers, on which it soon grows very ac ell as the seeds of the crabgrass (Digitaria sanguinaria); and in the barrens of Those which feed on Cantharides require to be very carefully e to suffer severely; but when their flesh is imbued with and other insects, as w Kentucky it often picks the strawberries. cleaned, otherwise persons who eat them are liabl the flavour of ripe strawberries, it is truly delicious. The Australian specimen is much lighter in its gener . ae ed "a ae ee a ee natural size, renders a detailed The accurate representation of the bird on the opposite Flate, size al colouring than those killed in Europe and America, as a distinct species. description of its colouring unnecessary. ZNO Be ee Kap. CAO) wW- AAW. WY OMG Yi hu LOY WV 2) 72 Vide LQYIRT ITT Ypyony T’ MUTE) “TO'TOOIML VNITTY GP. Grav OLOR, LC TOR JOIN AL RAILIL Welter: Dry Acl ct lith V Gowda & HCPechter RALLINA TRICOLOR, a. pe. Gray. Red-necked Rail. Rallina tricolor, G. R. Gray in Proc. of Zool. Soc., 1858, p. 188; 1859, p. 159; 1861, p. 438.—Gould ibid., 1866 p. 218. Rallus tricolor, G. R. Gray in Proc. of Zool. Soc., 1858, p. 197. Tue avifauna of Australia may be regarded as greatly enriched by the discovery in the Cape-York peninsula of this elegant species of Rail, an example of which was sent to me by C. Coxen, Esq., as undescribed ; but on comparing it with skins of a Rail brought from New Guinea and the Aru Islands by Mr. Wallace, to which Mr. G. R. Gray has given the name of Radlina tricolor, I found it to be identical therewith ; and thus we have another bird uniting the fauna of New Guinea to that of Australia. Mr. Cockerell states that, in the neighbourhood of Somerset, this bird inhabits the dry scrubs which fringe a small stream, and that he once found the nest and eggs, which he says were white ; if this be the case, it is the only instance known to me of the eggs of a Rail being destitute of colour. Its native name is Tangata, from the peculiar sound the bird utters at night. There appears to be little or no difference in the external appearance of the sexes, except in size, in which respect my specimens differ rather considerably—not more so, however, than is found to occur in our Common Water-Rail, of which the female is by far the smallest bird; and this is doubtless the case in the present species. Head, neck, nape, and breast rusty red, becoming very pale on the throat ; back, wings, and tail dark olive- brown; under surface light olive-brown, with a transverse band of deep or reddish buff near the tip of each feather; thighs lighter brown, spotted with dull buff; along the inner webs of each of the wing-feathers three transverse oval spots, forming as many bands when the wing is uplifted; the spots nearest the shoulder tawny, those in the centre of the wing nearly white ; bill dark green, fading into bright yellow at the tip; legs and feet olive or greenish-black ; irides red. The figures are of the natural size. Cul “Pay, LP [PPP IHS PINID YLO Ds VWIONITTV) FA AG Cold SA, lo RIS L« NULLA GAL LI Vhiaalter; Lip. J Gould & HCRichter, del ct; lith GALLINULA RUFICRISSA, Gowa. Rufous-vented Gallinule. Gallinula ruficrissa, Gould in Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 4th ser., vol. iv. p. 110. For a knowledge of the existence of this new species of Gallinule I am indebted to Mr. F. G. Waterhouse, Curator of the Museum of the South Australian Institute at Adelaide, South Australia, who, in a note ac- companying the specimen from which my figure was taken, states that it was obtained from Mr. Rainbird, a collector, who shot it on the Cape River, in Queensland. Mr. Waterhouse was under the impression that it was a new species of Z>zbonyx, but it appears to me to be more nearly allied to the genus Gallinula. With the assistance of Mr. G. R. Gray I have carefully compared it with all the members of the last-men- tioned genus in the British Museum, also with the descriptions of all the known species; and we cannot find one with which it can be considered identical. I have therefore characterized it as new. Its nearest ally appears to be the Gallinula olivacea of Meyen, from Manilla (vide Nova Acta, 1834, p. 109, t. 20); but that bird is of larger size, and is of still greater disproportion in the length of its legs. It gives me great pleasure to figure this species so soon after its discovery, since it may incite collectors to obtain additional specimens and some information respecting its habits and economy, of which at present nothing is known. The features which distinguish the Gallinula ruficrissa from the typical members of the genus are the absence of white spots on the flanks, and the uniform pale rufous colouring of the vent and under tail- coverts; it is this latter character that allies it to the G@. ofeacea, in which the same parts are similarly coloured, while in the other Gallinules they are black and white; in my opinion the Gadlnula phenicura perhaps the Gallinula Akool, of India, are also nearly allied to it. . Professor Reichenbach bas instituted the genus Amaurornis for the reception of the G. olivacea, wath which the late Prince Bonaparte associates the G. femoralis of Tschudi; it is for ornithologists to decide upon the propriety of such a separation. ; i enn Head, all the upper surface, wings, and tail brownish olive ; sides of the face, neck, toe _ Be surface deep olive-grey; vent and under tail-coverts pale rusty red ; bill greenish yellow, with a mark of rec on the base of the culmen; legs and feet greenish yellow. ( i ing Pl. : ry ; specimen, are of the natural size. The figures in the accompanying Plate, both drawn from the same s| ad & mie -. oe ae PY I Life) | { | NS % 2 : | L f “ : ; < 9 = =~ d =) | Za = ==) | Ura I Ne SPATULA VARIEGA TA, Gould. Variegated Shoveller. Spatula variegata, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., part xxiv. p. 95. Amone the novelties brought by Mr. Walter Mantell from New Zealand was a species of Shoveller Duck, which is certainly new to science, for with no one of the members of this well-defined genus of typical ducks can it be confounded. Its nearest ally is the Australian species, Spatula rhynchotis ; but it difene from it in its more variegated plumage, and in other particulars, as will be readily seen on an examination of the accompanying Plate. Supposing it to have been collected at the same time as the fine Parrot Nestor nota- bilis, the Middle Island of New Zealand will be the part where at least it is occasionally found. It is some- what strange that so large a bird as this duck should not have fallen to the gun of the collector before ; yet, on the other hand, how seldom does the common Shoveller of Europe (Spatula clypeata) fall before the gun of the sportsman ; even in the parts of England where it is most common, he may pass years without an opportunity occurring for shooting one. The Spatula variegata, which forms the fifth and is by far the handsomest species of the genus Spatula, is distinguished from the other members by the dark crescentic markings which decorate the feathers of the breast, sides of the neck, and scapularies. The species of this well-defined form previously described are Spatula clypeata, which inhabits “Europe, North America, India and China; S. rhynchotis, which is found throughout Australia ; S. maculata, the habitat of which is Chili and probably the neighbouring countries of Peru and Bolivia; and S. capensis of South Africa. Crown of the head and space surrounding the base of the bill brownish black; on either side of the face between the bill and the eye a lunar-shaped streak of white, bounded posteriorly with speckles of black ; cheeks, sides and back of the neck dark grey with greenish reflexions ; front of the neck dark brown, each feather narrowly fringed with white; back brownish black, the feathers of the upper part margined with greyish brown ; feathers of the breast, sides of lower part of the neck, the mantle and seeigulanies white, with a crescent of blackish brown near the tip; under surface dark chestnut blotched with black ; flanks lighter chestnut barred with black; lesser wing-coverts dull greenish ee greater wing-coverts dark brown, fringed at the tip with white; first elongated scapularies blue-grey, with a conspicuous line of wine on the outer web next the shaft, bounded posteriorly with black; the next blue-grey, margined on the inner a lengthened lanceolate mark of dull or brownish white web with white ; the remainder greenish black, with ae I ark brown with lighter shafts ; under down the centre of the apical half; speculum deep green; primaries d ibs | ae surface of the shoulder white ; on each side of the vent a patch of white freckled with black 5 ae Q E 1 1 int ‘1 dark brown: irides. brig y: bill dark purplish black, coverts black, tinged with shining green ; tail dark brown ; irides bright yellow ; pury the under mandible clouded with yellow ; legs and feet yellow. Total length, 162 inches; bill, 8; wing, 91; tail, 43; tarsi, le The figure is of the natural size. TCP SOR EAA € PA i 7 ® € g LLL LV 1109 NY SY le th all ne a WAS «Be “Ge VIR SA 5 CL0€, MIA CRO TW « \ \ DON uO CDE 1 7 q BS, ieee seared GELOCHELIDON MACROTARSA, Gould. Great-footed Tern. Sterna macrotarsa, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc +» part v. p. 26; and in Syn. Birds of Aust., pl. moan —— Iv is now about twenty-five years ago since a small collection of Australian birds was sent to the Council of King’s College, London, as a donation to their museum. In this collection was a fine I published, in 1837, a full description, under the name of Sterna macrotarsa. n two other examples ; rare, or that we have not yet visited its true habit by the late Mr. Elsey on the Victoria River : species of Tern, which proved to be new to science, and of which together with its ad- measurements and a sketch of the head, In the interval between 1837 and 1859, I have only see it is evident, therefore, that the bir at. One of the two specimens r in North-western Australia, and is now the other, which is in Iny OWN possession, was obtained at Moreton Bay. collection (and, I believe, the one procured by Mr. Elsey) is than that in the King’s College Museum; and the latter, which is probably a female, very much exceeds in size the Gull-billed Tern (Gelochelidon Anglica) of Europe, to which species the present bird is nearly allied, and of which it is evidently the representative on the Australian continent. features which distinguishes the Australian bird from its northern represent coloured back and win d is extremely eferred to was procured in the British Museum A The specimen in my own considerably larger in all its admeasurements One of the principal ative, is its light and silvery- gs; it has also a much stouter and longer bill, as well as longer and lar I have at this moment before me, for the purpose of comparison, beautiful skins of the G. lected by Mr. Osbert Salvin ger legs. Anglica, col- in North Africa; one from the continent of India, and another from Java: all these are as nearly alike as possible in colour and admeasurements ; it is evident therefore th at the European and Indian birds are of the same species. The following are the admeasurements of the bird I have figured from :— Total length 17 inches; bill, 2:; wing, 132; tail, 6; tarsi, 14. In summer the crown of the head and back of the neck are black; all the upper surface and primaries are light silvery grey; the remainder of the plumage is white; and the bill and feet are black. In winter the black colouring of the head probably disappears and is replaced by white. The figure is somewhat less than the natural size. GR NE NSO Ne I NN Ba OE PEA RB ERE Ae ZS OA Lae LZ Sahat La. Bah ae: Lac Gs) Ty Pent i Sir yt aes mar) Ce ee ee a TO re ve ai inal rte SE eT ead ale. “ i Ce 2 ee ee ee aie he ra G a ee ea a Ee ey Rt Se Terre FE osteo i ay One oie Kee ae ae He Teepe eee ee eo ary eee ce mis ee 5 Twi SOL i i As) x Pt Pn ete eA ent BN Ae a SE Sr Re Oa ea AR aed ee a ed ie aR Moe) aes Oe A A Mia ee el side eng td ur ed eet tid San Ca PaO eit ae Sis a een me a ARES EEE ee a ge ee NN i i aa acre ee