OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 207 



Malurus amabilis, Gould, is the adult male, of which Malurus 

 hypoleucos, Gould, is the young male and the adult female 

 plumage. 



In a list of birds from the Gulf of Carpentaria (see P. L. 8. of 

 N. S. W., vol. IV., p. 379), received by Le Comte de Castelnau ; a 

 typographical error was made in our remarks on this species, as 

 the context and sense of the passage will show, for the word 

 " female " young male should have been written. Our specimen 

 in change of plumage from that of the so-called M. hypoleucos to 

 that of M. amabilis could not possibly be a female. We have 

 since obtained young birds, said to be females, in the brown 

 plumage, characteristic of that sex of this genus ; they agree 

 well with the plate of the female given by Mr. Gould in his Supp. 

 to Bds. of Australia, pi. 29, but may be the females of a variety 

 of M. lamberti, the figure representing the male is that of the 

 young male of M. amabilis. 



Ptilotis gracilis, Gould. 

 Ptilotis notata, Gould, Supp. Bds. Aust., pi. 41. 

 Notwithstanding Mr. Gould's remarks respecting these species 

 I consider them to be identical with P. similis, of MM. Hom- 

 bron and Jacquinot, a very variable species both in size, and in 

 the extent and shape of the yellow patch on the ear coverts, as 

 well as in the length of the bill, and of the narrow yellow stripe 

 from the angle of the mouth to under the eye ; in some 

 of the numerous specimens examined, one from Rockingham 

 Bay, has this stripe almost obsolete ; Mr. Gould mentions a 

 specimen of P. notata from Dunk Island, which is opposite 

 Rockingham Bay, but I find, that specimens from this district 

 agree so well with the original description of P. similis of Homb. 

 et Jacq. (Voyage au Pole. Sud., sp. 46), that there can be no 

 doubt of all three being mere varieties of one and the same 

 species, which will of course retain the name of Ptilotis similis. 

 Its range extends from Rockingham Bay, north to New Guinea. 

 The following are the measurements of one of the smaller speci- 

 mens in the Dobroyde collection. Total length 5'2 in. to tip of 

 bill ; bill 0-8, wing 27, tail 2*2, tarsi 07. 



