MYIAGRA. 145 



females are also nearly alike; in describing M. concinna he remarks: "abdomen and under 

 tail-coverts white, which colour does not gradually blend with the rusty-red of the breast as in 

 the female of Myiagra pliimbea." This, however, even if it constituted a sufficient character to 

 distinguish a species, is not constant, for some adult females now before me from Derby, 

 North-western Australia, and the Northern Territory of South Australia, are indistinguishable 

 from examples obtained in New South Wales. By picking out the extremes of a large series 

 from all parts of Australia, one could readily distinguish a smaller northern race, but not a 

 distinct species. 



Dr. Sharpe remarks, in the "Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum,"* as follows: — 

 " I consider M. concinna to be really a distinct species, but on totally different grounds from 

 those given by Mr. Gould. Indeed, if we did not know that his specimens were from North- 

 western Australia, his figures and descriptions would be referable to .1/. nihccida. The chief 

 difference in the male birds is the presence of the black frontal line and black lores of M. 

 concinna." In the"\'oyage of H.M.S. Alert," I Dr. Sharpe refers the specimens collected at 

 Booby, West, Thursday, and Friday Islands to Myiagra concinna, and makes the following 

 remarks: — "The differences between this species and M. ruhccula, are to my mind not satis- 

 factorily established; but until better specimens reach the British Museum from North-western 

 Australia, (the habitat of the typical M. concinna), it will be difficult to settle the question." In 

 describing the adult male of M. rnhccula, in the "Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum," 

 Dr. Sharpe writes: "feathers in front of the eye dull greyish." 



All the Australian specimens I have examined ha\-e a more or less defined narrow frontal 

 line and the lores varying from a dull to deep black. These characters are more pronounced 

 in an otherwise typical specimen of Myiagra ruhecnla, obtained by Mr. George Masters at 

 Gayndah, on the Burnett River, Queensland, in September, 1870, which has these parts a 

 deep velvety-black. The only difference I can find between extreme northern and north- 

 western examples, and those obtained in New South Wales, is that as a rule the latter are 

 slightly larger, the lores and frontal line are of a duller black, and the leaden-grey feathers of 

 the male, extends slightly lower down on the fore-neck. 



Count Salvador! refers the birds obtained by Dr. Loria, near Port Darwin, to M. plunthca.\ 

 Specimens in the Macleay Museum, collected in the same locality, have the upper parts less 

 glossy than typical examples of Myiagra rnhecula obtained in the southern portions of the 

 continent. 



The eggs of this northern race vary in ground colour from faint bluish-white to warm 

 white, and are zoned around the centre or on the larger end with dots and spots of light 

 purplish-brown, intermingled with underlying spots of dull violet-grey, and being but sparingly 

 marked over the remainder of the shell. In some specimens the markings are confluent and 

 form a more or less well defined band on the larger end. They are indistinguishable, except 

 for their slightly smaller size, from those of Myiagra rubccula. A set of two measures: — Length 

 (A) 07 X 0-58 inches; (B) o-6g x 0-57 inches. 



* Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. iv., p. 374 (1879). 

 t Rep Zool. Coll. H.M.S. Alert, p. 14 (1S84). 

 \ Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen., Vol. xxix., p. 497 (1890). 



Hh 



