98 PRIONOPID.B. 



bill blackish-brown; leys and feet bluiah-grey. Total hnyth 7-7 inches, wing Jf, tail SS, bill OS, 

 tarsus I'l. 



Adult female — Similar in plumage to the male. 



Distribution. — North-western Australia, Northern Territory of South Australia. 



^?^HE Little Shrike-Thrush inhabits the north-western and northern portions of the 

 continent. There are specimens in the Macleay Museum, collected at King Sound 

 and Cambridge Gulf, North-western Australia, and at Port Darwin in the Northern Territory 

 of South Australia. Mr. Alex. Morton also obtained specimens at Port Essington, in 1879, 

 the farthest point east I have known it to be found, and where Gilbert procured the type. 



In the "Ornithology of the Chevert,"" Mr. George Masters has, by a lapsus calami, recorded 

 this species from Cape York, Cape Grenville, and Palm Island, instead of C. nifigastcr, or its 

 smaller northern ally C. parvissima. Dr. Ramsay I has also recorded C. nijif;astci' from Derby, 

 North-western .\ustralia, instead of the present species. 



In his "Handbook," Gould remarks:— " This species is a native of Port Essington and 

 the neighbouring parts of the northern coast of Australia." Gilbert, to whose notes I must 

 refer for all tiiat is known about it, states that it is "an inhabitant of the thickets, is an 

 extremely shy bird, and is generally seen on or near the ground. Its note is a fine Thrush-like 

 tone, very clear, loud, and melodious. The stomach is muscular, and the food consists of 

 insects of various kinds, but principally coleoptera. The nest and eggs were brought me by 

 a native; they were taken from the hollow part of a tree, about four feet from the ground. 

 The nest, which was too much injured to be preserved, was formed of small twigs and narrow 

 strips of bark of a Melaleuca. The eggs were two in number, of a beautiful pearly flesh-white, 

 regularly spotted all over with dull reddish and umber-brown ; like the eggs of the other species 

 of tlie genus, they are also sprinkled over with bluish markings, which appear as if beneath the 

 surface of the shell; their medium length is one incii, and breadth nine lines." 



Two eggs of a set, taken near Port Darwin, are oval in form, pearly white, sparingly freckled 

 and spotted with rich umber-brown, except on the larger end, where intermingled with a few 

 underlying spots of pale bluish-grey, the markings are larger and confluent, forming a well 

 defined zone. Length : — (A) i x 072 inches; (B) 0-98 x 073 inches. Anotiier set of two, taken 

 in the same locality, measures: — (A) 0-95 x 075 inches; (B) 0-94 x 075 inches. In shape, size, 

 colour, and disposition of markings, the eggs of this species cannot be distinguished from those 

 of Collyriocincla nifigaster. There are specimens in the Macleay Museum, taken at Derby, 

 North-western Australia, in 1886. 



Collyriocincla rufiventris. 



BUFF-BELLIED SHRIKE-THRUSH. 



Colluricincla rufiventris, Gould, Proc. Zool. Hoc, 1840, p. 164; id., Bds. Austr., fol., Vol. II., 



pi. 7.5 (1848); id., Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. I., p. 222 (1865). 

 Collyriocincla rufiventris. Sharps, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. III., p. 292 (1877). 



Adult m.\le — General colour above dark grey, slightly tinged with olive; primaries, secondaries, 

 and upper wing-coverts brown, externally edged ruith grey ; tail feathers brown, washed ivith grey on 

 their outer webs; lores dull tvhite: chin and throat greyish-ivhite, passing into ashy-grey on the chest; 

 remainder of the under surface pale fawn colour, becoming of a deeper tint on the under tail-coverts ; 

 bill blackish-brown ; legs and feet greenish-grey ; iris brown. Total length 8'75 inches, wing Ji.'8, 

 tail 4, bill 9, tarsus 1'2. 



' Proc. Linn. See. N.S.W., Vol. i., p. 50 (1877). 



t Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., 2nd ser., Vol. ii., p. 1C7 (1888). 



