MAU'RUS. 



205 



From Mulurus superhns of Australia, to which species it is very closely allied, the male of the 

 present species may be distinguished by the darker blue colour of the crown of the head, mantle, 

 and ear-coverts, which is more apparent when the two species are placed together and held 

 away from the light, and also by its average larger measurements. 



It is represented in the Australian Museum collection by s, mens ...lined by Mr. 

 George Masters near the Ouse River and Maria Creek in 1867, and by other examples 

 procured at Georgetown, Badger Head, and near Launceston. Several adult specimens of 

 both se.xes have also been recently received in the flesh from Mr. R. N. Atkinson, of Waratah, 

 Mount Bisciioft", Tasmania. ^ 



Of a number of adult males now before ma from different parts of Tasmania, the; wing 

 ■measurement varies only from 2-05 to 2-15 inches, but the tails vary from 2-5 to 2-8 inches in 

 length. They are alike in colour, but some have a bluish wash on the upper wing-coverts; in 

 othlrs the blue tips to the feathers on the upper breast extend lower down; and in one 

 abnormally plumaged specimen the flank feathers and under tail-coverts are distinctly tipped 

 with blue.' As in Malnnis superhns, some examples have the tail feathers narrowly edged with 

 white at the tips. The upper and under tail-coverts of all species of the genus Malurus are 

 very short, and in the males the former are more or less concealed by the lengthy velvety 

 plumes of the lower portion of the back. 



In his folio edition of the "Birds of Australia," Gould uses the vernacular name of Wren 

 for all species of the genus Malunis, but in his Handbook he has referred to them under 

 Latham's older name of Superb Warbler. 



From Dr. L. Holden's MS. notes, the following information is extracted :— " I found a 

 nest containing two eggs of the Blue W^ren at Circular Head on the 14th October, 1SS6. It 

 was built in the tangle at the foot of a tea-tree, and was a dome-shaped structure formed of 

 dried grasses, lined inside with feathers. A month later I found another nest with three 

 slightly incubated eggs. It was built in a clump of fern and coarse grass, two feet from the 

 ground. This nest, which had the entrance large, and the dome covering incomplete, was 

 thickly lined with hair, fur, and feathers. On the i8th November I took two eggs of M. gonUi 

 and one of Lampvococcyx hasalis, from a nest in a low bramble bush, which I had seen the female 

 lining with feathers a few days before. On the Sth December, I found a nest containing four 

 eggs in a pine, also one in a bramble bush with newly hatched young. On the 17th December, 

 1899, I found a nest with three eggs on the banks of the Styx River, built in a small Hakea 

 shrub, about two feet from the ground." 



Writing me from Waratah, Mount Bischoff, Mr. R. N. Atkinson remarks :—" .J/rt/;«n« 

 gouldl frequents the low undergrowth in this district, and may be often seen in clear spaces in 

 the forest hopping about the ground in search of insects. It possesses a very sweet and 

 prolonged note. The nest is generally built about a foot or two from the ground, up to a 

 height of eight feet, although I once found one resting on the ground, and supported by a few 

 thin fallen twigs lying in some rank grass. In a pit on the 20th November, 1899, I found a 

 nest of this bird, and thinking that it was old, pulled it to pieces. Returning a week later, 1 

 was surprised to find it all made up again and to contain three fresh eggs. Evidently the birds 

 reconstructed it in a hurry as you will see by the lining materials being mixed up with the 

 outer portion of the nest." In four nests now before me, taken by Mr. Atkinson, there is a 

 great difference in their size and the materials of which they are outwardly constructed. The 

 one previously referred to is nearly spherical in form, with a narrow entrance in the side, and 

 is externallv composed of very fine shreds of bark and grasses, mi.xed up with bright green 

 mosses and a large quantity of cow-hair; internally it is lined with a thick layer of fur, 

 Average external diameter four inches and three-quarters. Another, attached to the stems 

 of a weed, is externally formed of dead mosses and fine grasses, intermingled with a large 



Ww 



