EOPSALTRIA. 187 



Chatham, obtained at Swan River. In his "Handbook to the Birds of Austraha," ■' Gould 

 erroneously placed Miisckapa gcorgiana, Quoy and Gaimard, as a synonym of Eopsaltria 

 griseogiilcins, Gould, and also errs in placing Musckapa gularis, Quoy and Gaimard, as a 

 synonym of his Eopsaltria Icucogastcr. Dr. Gadow in the "Catalogue of Birds in the British 

 Museum,"! has also confused the two, describing E. gularis under the name of E. georgiana, 

 and the latter species under the name of the former. In addition to the description of these 

 two birds appearing under the wrong names, the syncjnymy is incorrect, Eopsaltria griseo- 

 gularis, Gould, appearing as a synonym of E. gcorgiana, and E. lemogastcr, Gould, as a synonym 

 of E. gularis. 



Mr. George Masters obtained specimens of Eopsaltria t^nlaris in the mangroves about a mile 

 from Port Lincoln, South Australia, during the latter part of 1S65; also at King George's 

 Sound, Western Australia, in 1866, and again in 1868, when he also procured several of its 

 nests and eggs. He informs me that in the latter locality he found this species frequenting 

 similar situations as E. australis does in Eastern Australia, which in habits it resembles. 

 I also received for examination a mutilated specimen of a young bird referable to this species, 

 that was shot by Mr. Tom Carter in the mangroves at Point Cloates, North-western Australia, 

 on the 23rd Februarv. iqoi. 



Specimens from Port Lincoln have the upper tail-coverts of a duller oli\-e-green, and the 

 band on the upper breast broader and slightly darker than in western e.xamples. \'ariation 

 also exists in the specimens from King George's Sound. Some have the white chin and throat 

 sharply defined and well separated from the yellow lower breast by a grey band on the fore- 

 neck and upper portion of the breast; in others the white extends on to the sides of the neck 

 and in one specimen the yellow feathers of the breast meet the white feathers on the fore-neck. 

 The wing-measurement of adult males varies from 3-4 to 37 inches. 



In a collection of birds sent me for examination, and formed by Dr. A. M. Morgan and Dr. 

 A. Chenery during a trip made from Port Augusta to the Gawler Ranges in August, 1902, 

 was an adult male and female of this species. Dr. Morgan writes: — "These birds were not 

 seen until past Yardea, where they were common in a patch of mallee scrub and in the deep 

 gorges. They were only found where there were Eucalypti.'' 



Mr. J. \V. Mellor, of South Australia, writes: — "I first observed the Grey-breasted Robin 

 at Kapinka, about twenty miles north-west of Port Lincoln, where I obtained both adults 

 and young. They seem to prefer the wooded hill country with an undergrowth. Two eg.fs is 

 the usual number, I believe, laid for a sitting, for prior to my visit I had two sets sent me, and 

 on several occasions I saw the old birds feeding two young ones. They are apparently 

 moderately early breeders, for I shot two young birds that were being fed by the parents on 

 the 29th September." 



The nest of this species cannot be distinguished from that of Eopsaltria australis. It is an 

 open cup-shaped structure, formed entirely of strips of bark bound round and held too-ether 

 with cobwebs, the bottom of the nest being lined with dried gum leaves. On the outside are 

 attached by cobwebs long strips of bark which hang around the nest like a hea\-y fringe. An 

 average nest, taken by Mr. George Masters on the 24th September, 1868, measures externally 

 three inches in diameter by two inches in depth, and the inner cup two inches and a half in 

 diameter by one inch and a half in depth. From the rim to the lower end of the longest piece 

 of suspended bark it measures four and a quarter inches. 



Eggs two in number for a sitting, oval or elongate-oval in form, and varying in ground 

 colour from dull apple-green to pale yellowish-green, which is dotted, spotted, or heavily 



• Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. i., p. 294 (1865). 

 t Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol, viii., p. 178 (1S83). 



