NOTES AND EXHIBITS. 579 



narrow band across the foreneck. Total length 6-15 inches, 

 wing 3-08, tail 2*9, bill 0-5, tarsus 0-9. Owing to seasonal 

 changes and varying phases of plumage, considerable difference 

 of opinion exists among ornithologists who have made a life-long 

 study of the genus Motacilla, as to the validity of certain of its 

 species or subspecies. Should the specimen obtained by Mr. 

 Barnard in Queensland not be an unusually plumaged visitor or 

 straggler from another clime, and the characters pointed out 

 above in which it differs from M. cinereicapilla, prove constant, 

 Mr. North proposed to distinguish it under the name of Motacilla 

 harnardi in honour of its discoverer. Mr. Barnard thus refers 

 to the above specimen: "I send you a small bird I shot at Bimbi 

 on the 10th June, 1905, which is new to me. When first seen it 

 was on the ground, and ran along like the Australian Pipit 

 (Anthus australis). During flight the white feathers on each 

 side of the tail were very conspicuous. It is the only one [ have 

 ever seen, and my attention was first attracted to it by its sharp 

 whistling note." 



