210 MUSCICAPID.E. 



have previously pointed out,'' if the eggs of the Cuckoos are deposited before the rightful owners 

 have begun to lay, they are freciuently covered by the Warblers with a layer of nesting 

 material sufficiently thick to prevent incubation. 



Mahirus cyaiWiMamys, Sharpe.t of Queensland, is at the most only a slightly paler northern 

 race of M . supcrhiis. Dr. Sharpe, in describing the adult male which was obtained at Moreton 

 Bay, points out that it is distinguished by the blue head, ear-coverts, and mantle being 

 "much lighter, pale, and of a silvery-cobalt, instead of the deep cobalt-blue of ^V. cyancus ; the 

 mantle is also smaller and more circumscribed." These characteristics are also applicable 

 to the not quite adult stage of the males of M. supcrhiis. Mr. C. \V. Da Vis, M.A., has kindly 

 forwarded me on loan three adult males from Queensland. They are slightly paler than 

 typical examples of .1/. siipcrhus obtained in New South Wales, as are also other specimens 

 in the collection from the Dawson River District, but are indistinguishable from a not quite 

 adult male obtained at Toongabbie, near Sydney, and another procured at Cambewarra, in the 

 lUawarra District, New South Wales. The mantle of one of the adult males lent by Mr. 

 De \'is is larger than is found in typical New South Wales examples. I cannot find any 

 difference between adult females obtained in Oueensland and New South Wales. 



Malurus melanotus. 



IiL.\eK-BAt'KED SUPEKH WAKIiLEIf. 

 Malurus miJanoliifi, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1840, p. 1C:5; id., Bd.s. Austr., fob, Vol. IIT., pi. 20 

 (1848); id., Haiulbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. I., p. 322 (186-5); Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., 

 Vol. TV., p. 288(1879). 



Adult •sxw^y. —Forehead, crown of ihe head, matit/e, and iijiper portion of the back rich cobalt- 

 blue; lores, sides of crowti,, and neck, and a nuchal collar velvejjjblack ; lower back and rump 

 velvety-black; upper tail-coverts rich cobalt-blue ; upper iring-coverts and quills broken, externally 

 edged with greenish-blue ; tail feathers dull blue with a greenish tinge ivhich is more distinct on the 

 basal portion, the central pair having narrow white tips which increases in extent towards the 

 outermost feathers; feathers beloiv the eye and the earcoverts turquoise-blue; throat and fore-neck 

 cobalt-blue, followed by a narroiv velvety-black crescentic hand across the upper portion of the 

 breast, which widens out at each side : remainder of the under surface and under tail-coverts 

 cobalt-blue; bill black; legs and feet dark brown ; iris black. Total length 4 8 inches, wing 1-92, 

 tail 2- J,, bill 0-32, tarsus OS. 



Adult fkmale — Above brotvn; upper vdng-coverts brown; quills brown ■narrowly edged ex- 

 ternally with brownish-white: tail feathers brown, slightly washed with dull blue which is more 

 distinct on the central pair ; the lateral feathers tipped with dull tvhite; an acute angled patch of 

 feathers in front and a circle of feathers around the eye dark chestniit red; all the under surface pale 

 fulvous-brown, slightly darker on the sides of the neck, breaat, and tinder tail-coverts. 



Distribution. — Queensland, Western New South Wales, \'ictoria. South Australia. 

 /"I^HE habitat of the Black-backed Superb Warbler is restricted to the inland portions of 

 -L the Australian continent. The type was obtained by one of Captain Sturt's party, in 

 South Australia in 1839. Mr. James Ramsay procured adult males and females, together with 

 their nests and eggs, at Tyndarie, New South Wales, in 1882. So likewise did the late Mr. 

 K. H. Bennett, in the Mossgiel District, in October and November, 1885 and 1886. Mr. R. 

 Grant obtained specimens near Byrock in 1887. Its range extends throughout the north- 



• Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., 2nd ser., Vol. viii., p. 436 (1893). 

 t Proc. Zool. Soc, 1881, p. 788. 



