14 REOOBDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 



ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES. 

 By Alfrkd J. North, O.M.Z.S., Ornitholo<,nst. 



L— On tiik extension of tiik RANGE of CALAMANTllUS 



fuliginosus, and emblema pict a 

 to new south wales. 



During tlie months of August and September, 1896, tlie 

 Ornithological Collection of the Australian Museum has become 

 enriched by the receipt of specimens in the flesh of Oalamantltus 

 fidiyhiosus, and Emblenia picia. The former species was obtained 

 on Boloco Station, near Buckley's Crossing Place, New South 

 Wales, on the 19th August by Mr. E. Payten, who killed it with 

 a stone. It was then taken to Mr. Reuben Rose, the owner of 

 the station, and was by that gentleman presented to the Trustees 

 of the Museum. Buckley's Crossing Place, situated on the Snowy 

 River, is about 29G miles south of Sydney and 34 miles as the 

 crow flies to the nearest point of the imaginary line between 

 Cape Howe and Forest Hill, which separates the south-eastern 

 corner of New South Wales from Eastern Victoria. The natural 

 or artiflcial boundaries of the Continent of course do not form 

 any barriers to birds, but hitherto 0. fuliginosus has been 

 recorded only from the southern parts of Victoria and South 

 Australia; Tasmania being the stronghold of the species. From 

 typical examples of C. fnlvjinosim^ the bird procured in New 

 South Wales differs in the following respects : the bill is shorter, 

 the throat is buff" instead of white, altliough similarly streaked 

 with black, and the outer webs of the primaries are externally 

 edged with ashy-white. These slight differences may be due to 

 immaturity, or climatic variation, the locality in which it was 

 oV)tained being over 2,000 feet above the level of the sea. 



On the 23rd of September, Mr. A. M. N. Rose presented to 

 the Trustees three adult male specimens of Emhlema picta in 

 splendid plumage. These birds were shot the previous day Uy 

 his nephew, Mr. Arthur Payten, at Campbelltown, an agricultural 

 and dairy farming district, 34 miles south-west of Sydney. Mr. 

 Payten saw altogether ffve specimens, which kept together in a 

 small ffock while searching for grass-seeds on a hill devoid of any 

 cover. Previously this rare bird has been recorded only from 

 North-west Australia where the type was procured ; from Derby 

 and Cambridge Gulf by Mr. E. J. Cairn and the late T. H. 

 Boyer-Bower, and from several localities in Central Australia, 



