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.