96 PRIONOPID.E. 



passing into pale ashy-brorvn on the hreasl, ayid i/ull irhite tinged >ritli fami colour on tJte abdomen; 

 thighs as/iy-brown ; under tail-coverts dull ivhile : nnder iring-coverts greyisli-broirn : "bill black; 

 legs and feet hlackishbroivn; iris broion" {^Vorlon). Total length 9' 3 inches, iving Jf9o, tail ^S, 

 bill OS, tarsus 1-2. 



Adult female — Distinguished from the male by its dull rnfous eye-broiv: the under surface 

 and under tail-coverts being mo)e distinctly tinged ivith faicn colour, and the feathers of the fore-neck 

 and hrea.it having dark hroivn shaft streaks; under iving-coverts pale oratige-huff; bill light yellowish- 

 horn colour, fleshy-brown at the base. 



Distribution. — Xorth-western Australia, Northern Territorv (if South Australia. 



/'(sV OULD described the type of this species from North-western Australia, and states in 



V A his "Handbook to the Birds of Australia" " that "it is abundantly dispersed over the 



Cobourg Peninsula, and is to be met with in all the forests in the immediate neighbourhood of 

 Port Essington and the north coast generally." The late Mr. E. Spalding found it very 

 common in the vicinity of Port Darwin in 1877; and Mr. .Mexander Morton, while collecting 

 on behalf of the Trustees of the .\ustralian Museum, obtained e.vamples of both sexes at Port 

 Essington, in February and March, 1879, from which the above descriptions are taken. Mr. 

 E. J. Cairn procured an adult male and female near Derby, North-western Australia, in 1S86; 

 and in the same neighbourhood Mr. G. A. Keartland found them breeding in i8y6, and 

 procured an adult male. It is worthy of note that specimens from Derby are much paler than 

 examples from J-'ort Essington. In 1S9.S, Mr. E. Olive also found ihcin breeding near the 

 Katherine River, in the Northern Territory of South Australia. .\11 the adult males I have 

 seen from Northern and North-western .Australia, agree with Gould's description and figure of 

 this species, and have no white eyebrow. 



Dr. Sharpe ' and Count Salvadori \ agree in describing the adult of C. bnuuica, respectively 

 from Cape York and New Guinea, as having a distinct white eyebrow, like C. snpcrciliosa. 

 Masters, and which both authors include as a synonvm of C. hriiiuiea. No reference is made to 

 the different plumage of the adult female, of which we have abundant proof in the specimens 

 obtained at Port Essington. Gould figures the two se.xes of C. brnuuca in his "ISirds of 

 Australia," but omits to give a description of the female. 



I have never seen a typical specimen of C. hrunnea from Northern and Eastern Queensland. 

 C. superciliosa. Masters, was obtained at Cape Grenville, one hundred miles south from Cape 

 York, and has a distinct white eyebrow similar to examples described from Cape York and 

 New Guinea. Instead of C. superciliosa. Masters, being relegated as a synonym of C. hrunnea, it 

 is evident that the species inhabiting the Cape York Peninsula and New Guinea must bear the 

 name of Collyriocincla superciliosa. I have compared Mr. Masters' type of the latter species with 

 examples from New Guinea, and find them alike, except that the white eyebrow is broader and 

 more distinct in the Australian bird, which I take to be a very old male. 



Mr. G. A. Keartland writes me: — "During the journey of the Calvert Exploring Expedition 

 in North-western Australia, Brown Shrike-Thrushes were seen on the southern margin of the 

 Great Desert, and again near the junction of the Fitzroy and Margaret Rixers. They were very 

 tame, and allowed me to walk under a Bankinia tree, about twenty feet high, while they hopped 

 about the upper branches, my attention being frequently attracted to them by their loud and 

 musical notes. When the young brood leave the nest, the parents will perform all manner of 

 antics to divert the attention of an intruder. A pair which reared their family near our camp on 



♦ Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. i., p. 223 (1865). 

 t Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. iii., p. 291 (1877). 

 { Orn. Pap. et Molucc, Pt. ii , p. 209 (1881). 



