226 MusciCAPiD.i:. 



the under surface white slightly washed with fulvous, the latter colour being more distinct on the 

 sides of the body; bill black; legs and feet light fleshy-broivn. 



Distribution. — Northern Queensland, some of the islands of Torres Strait, North-western 

 Australia. 



/"I^HE range of this species extends throughout the greater portion of the Cape York 

 J- Peninsula, and as far south in Queensland as the Herbert River. In a north-westerly 

 direction it is found throughout the southern shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria: and Mr. 

 Bertie L. Jardine informs me that it is found on most of the larger islands of Torres Strait. 

 Mr. C. \V. De Vis. M.A., has also recorded it from Cambridge Gulf, North-western Australia.* 



.\ single specimen of this bird was obtained during the stay of H.AI.S. "Rattlesnake" at 

 Cape York in 1849, and it w-as transmitted by the late Captain Owen Stanley to the Zoological 

 Society of London. Gould described it in the following year under the name of Afalnnis 

 amabilis, and later on characterised the female or a young male collected by Mr. J. Jardine in 

 the same locality, as a distinct species under the name of M. hypoleiiais. The late Mr. James 

 Cockerell, who was collecting with Mr. J. .\. Thorpe at Cape York in 1867-S, was the first to 

 inform Gould of his mistake; and this evidence was confirmed by Mr. George Masters, who in 

 writing of the birds collected during the stay of the "Chevert" at Cape York in 1875, remarks: — 

 " A/alui'iis amabilis — three males and three females. Mr. Gould described the female of M. 

 amabilis as a distinct species under tiie name of M. hypolcucus. I had ample opportunities of 

 observing them at Cape York, and pronounce them as identical without the slightest hesitation."! 

 Gould's error was a pardonable one, seeing how entirely different the female is in colour from 

 the rule that obtains in the females of the Australian species of this genus. Without seeing 

 these birds in a state of nature, it is a mistake that would liave been made by any one who had 

 them placed in his hands for description, and had to judge of their sexes only by the colour 

 of the plumage. 



This species is represented in the Australian Museum collection by specimens obtained 

 by Mr. J. A. Thorpe at Cape York in 1867-8; by adults and young birds procured by Mr. 

 Gulliver at Normanton in 1875; by specimens collected by Mr. R. Grant in the low scrub 

 opposite Double Island, near Cairns: and others procured by Mr. Kendal Broadbent in the same 

 neighbourhood. While collecting on behalf of the Queensland Museum in 1888, Mr. Broadbent 

 also obtained specimens on Mount Beilenden Ker, at an altitude of eighteen hundred feet. In 

 a number of adult males now before me, the wing measurement varies from 1-95 to 2-i inches. 

 Mr. Bertie L. Jardine has kindly forwarded me a nest of this species, taken by him at 

 Somerset, together with the following notes: — " A/alurus amabilis is a permanent resident of the 

 northern portion of the Cape York Peninsula, and on most of the larger islands of Torres 

 Strait, over which it is tolerably common but nowhere abundantly distributed. In habits it 

 resembles the other members of the genus. It is shy and rarely exposes itself to view; when 

 it does it may be observed in small troops ranging from ten to twenty or more in nuinber, 

 among which is generally only one or two adult males. They traverse the long grass with the 

 utmost activity, and occasionally the fully plumaged male, with tail erect, will perch on a 

 coarse grass-stem or bare twig and pour forth its sweet and animated song. The food of this 

 species consists of various kinds of small insects obtained chiefly on the ground, or behind the 

 sheaths of the long coarse grass in which they are often found. The nest, a dome-shaped 

 structure with an opening in the side, is formed of grasses, and is very often lined with down, 

 feathers, or other soft material. It is artfully concealed near the bottom of a tuft of grass or 

 low brushwood." 



• Proc. Roy. Soc. Queensld., Vol. VI., p. 236 {1890). 

 f Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., Vol. i., p. 52 (1876). 



