208 MUSCICAPID.E. 



mantle, but the latter varies in size, extending lower down the back in some specimens than 

 others. The margins of the lesser and median wing-covers of some specimens are washed 

 with blue, in others with black, and in both sexes specimens may be found with all but the 

 two central feathers narrowly tipped with white. An adult male procured by Mr. Edwin 

 Ashby, in May, 1886, at Ballarat, \'ictoria, has the wings dark brown, the upper wing-coverts 

 being washed with greenish-blue, the quills externally with dull green. Examples from Port 

 Lincoln, South Australia, have a slight silvery tinge to the blue of the crown of the head, 

 ear-coverts, and mantle. The wing measurement of adult males \aries from 1-85 to 2 inches. 



For an opportunity of examining specimens obtained in the neighbourhood of Adelaide, I 

 am indebted to the Director and Assistant Director of the South Australian Museum, also to 

 Dr. A. M. Morgan and Mr. Edwin Ashby. 



In writing of this genus Gould states that the gay attire of the male is only assumed 

 during the pairing season, and is retained for a very short period, after which the sexes are 

 alike in colouring, and referring to the present species remarks that in winter the adult males 

 throw oflf their line livery, and the plumage of the sexes then becomes so nearly alike that a 

 minute examination is requisite to distinguish them. 



In the Botanic Gardens and the suburbs of Sydney I have had these birds under almost 

 daily observation for many years, and have noted fully plumaged males at all times and 

 seasons. Having observed in the former place eight of these gorgeously plumaged birds 

 within half-an-hour on the 21st June, 1894, I ceased to record seeing these birds in full livery 

 in the depth of winter. In spring it is generally met with in pairs; but after the breeding 

 season is over, accompanied by their young, they may be observed in small companies of from 

 five to seven in number, consisting of a fully plumaged male and the remainder in the sombre 

 plumage of the female, probably the last brood of the season. Other groups e.xhibit in addition 

 to the brilliant attire of the fully adult male, and the modest garb of the female, young males in 

 change of plumage and showing the tail alone blue or also an admixture of brown, blue, and 

 velvety-black body feathers, according to their age. In winter these families congregate 

 together, and it is possible for one to observe a score or more of these birds without seeing 

 a fully adult male. During the last few years, while resident at Roseville, where these 

 birds are common in the gardens and bush adjacent to my house, I have paid particular 

 attention to individual pairs during the moulting season, and have daily noted many adult 

 males in full plumage throughout January, February, March, and April, and from thenceforward 

 throughout the year. Several examples of adult males in the moult now before me, shot on the 

 26th January, 1897, at Eastwood, near Sydney, have the old dull blue feathers on one side of 

 the tail, and the half-grown new dark blue feathers on the other side. There is also a specimen 

 in a similar stage of plumage obtained in the same locality on the 14th August; otherwise 

 they are all in full and perfect plumage. Taking the former birds for an example, and leaving 

 the body feathers out of the question, it would be necessary after the newly assumed tail 

 feathers were fully grown, to again moult them for brown ones during the year, before they 

 would be indistinguishable from the female. A young male in change of plumage, procured at 

 Eastwood on the 17th September following, has a few of the dull blue tail feathers remaining, 

 and the new dark blue tail feathers are not quite half grown. The old brown feathers of its 

 youthful plumage on the body are nearly all moulted, and are replaced with the pale metallic- 

 blue and velvety-black feathers of the semi-adult stage, several of the feathers on the head and 

 all the new tail feathers being still enclosed in their sheaths at the base. The moulting season, 

 especially of the quills and tail feathers, depends upon the age of the birds, for specimens may 

 be found in the same stage of the meult, and in similar plunaage, at opposite seasons of the 

 year. So far as my experience goes with the different species I have observed, these remarks 

 apply to all members of the genus. 



