224 MUSCICAPID.E. 



From specimens procured in Western, North-western, and South Australia, Dr. Sharpe 

 has described this species in the "Catalogue of Birds in the British IMuseum."" under Gould's 

 name of Mnlunis pnlchcvrimus. A nest and eggs in the Macleay Museum, taken in January, 

 1888, about one hundred miles inland from Derby, North-western Australia, were also described 

 by me under this name.t Previously I had never seen the skin of the adult male, which was 

 obtained at the same time with the nest and eggs, but in 1901 I examined it at the Macleay 

 Museum, and found that although labelled Maliniis piilcheyrimus it was not that species but the 

 black-throated bird distinguished by me a few months before under the name oiMahirns assimilis. 

 Although apparently rare in collections, Mr. George Masters, the Curator of the Macleay 

 Museum, procured a fine series of eleven specimens of the true Malurus piilchcrnnuis of Gould 

 while collecting on behalf of the Trustees of the .\ustralian Museum, at Mongup, Salt Ri\-er, 

 Western Australia, in January, 1868..; Three of them, beautiful old males, were mounted and 

 have been exhibited m the bird galleries in the main upper hall for the past thirty years. 



Of the present species Mr. G. A. Keartland writes me: — ''Malurus assimilis is one of the most 

 widely dispersed species of the genus, being found in the Wimmera District, \'ictoria; in the 

 mallee scrub, near Murray Bridge, South .\ustralia; and throughout Central and Western 

 Australia. They are very partial to salt-bush country, and two or three fully plumaged males 

 may be seen hopping about together. Near Owen Springs, in Central .\ustralia, I killed two 

 males of this species and one of Af. callainns at one shot. They were first observed hopping 

 about a bush within eight feet of where I was riding, and when disturbed by my camel making 

 a noise as I dismounted, simply flew off to the next hush in company with a number of brown 

 and parti-plumaged companions. In Western .\ustralia I first met with this species near Lake 

 Augusta, and afterwards in considerable numbers in the salt-bush and samphire near .\dminga 

 Creek, but they were not observed north of Separation Well." 



Dr. .\. M. Morgan, of Adelaide, has also kindly furnished me with the following notes: — 

 " I met with Maluyiis assimilis in the neighbourhood of Laura, at Port Germein, Port Augusta 

 and Mount Gunson and the neighbourhood. It is almost invariably found in the dry beds of 

 creeks, in pairs or small flocks, generally only one full plumaged male to each flock, presumably 

 an old pair and brood. Two nests were met with. One at Stone Hut. near Laura, on the 19th 

 October, 1895, was built externally of weather-worn grass stems, so as to look at first glance 

 like an old deserted nest; it was domed and lined with feathers, and contained two half-grown 

 young birds. It was placed under a bunch of grasses overhanging the bank of a dry creek. 

 A week later the young birds had left the nest, but were in the vicinity with their parents. 

 Only one pair of old birds were seen in connection with this nest. The other nest, found near 

 Laura on the 13th November, 1895, was placed in the dry sticks of a cut mallee, the young 

 shoots from the stem partially hidmg it. It was constructed, like the first, externally of old grass 

 stems and lined with feathers, and contained three fresh eggs. There were several birds about 

 this nest, but only one old male, from which I concluded that it was a second clutch, the more 

 especially as there was an old used nest about ten yards distant, built in a similar manner and 

 situation. Is not the reputation for polygamy which these birds enjoy, according to some 

 writers, due to the fact that the young birds accompany the old pair even after the second 

 clutch is laid ? The young birds might all be mistaken for females. The stomachs of three 

 of these birds which I dissected contained nothing recognisable except the remains of ants." 



From Point Cloates, North-western Australia, Mr. Tom Carter writes me: — ''Malurus 

 assimilis is not so numerous here as M. leiicopterus. It seems to give preference to the low scrub 



• Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. iii., p. 294 (1879). 



t Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., 2nd ser., Vol. iii,, p. 415 (1888). 



J Ann. Rep. Austr. Mus. for 1868, p. 7 (1869). 



