298 MUSCICAPID.E 



/"I^HE Graceful Superb Warbler is an inhabitant of the south-western portion of the 

 J_ continent. Mr. George Masters, while collecting on behalf of the Trustees of the 

 Australian Museum, succeeded in obtaining a series of twenty-three specimens at King 

 George's Sound. Western Australia, in November, 1868. Mr. Masters informs me that he 

 found it very common in the scrub near the coast, and that he had no difficulty in procuring as 

 many specimens as he required. It was not met with far inland. 



The adult male of Malurus dedans belongs to that section of tiie genus which has the 

 shoulders chestnut-red and the throat dark blue. From all species it may be distinguished by 

 the very light cobalt feathers of the mantle and upper portion of the back. On lifting these 

 feathers it will be found that the underlying plumes are silvery-white; those adjoining the 

 upper back are velvety-black, but have also white bases. 



Of this species Gould writes' :—" The nest is dome-shaped, with a hole in the side for an 

 entrance, and is generally formed of the thin paper-like bark of the Tea-tree (Melaleuca), and 

 lined with feathers; it is usually suspended to the foliage of this tree, and occasionally to that 

 of other shrubs which grow in its favourite localities. The eggs are four in number, of a 

 delicate flesh-white, freckled with spots of reddish-brown, which are much thicker at the larger 

 end; they are about eight lines long and six lines broad. The breeding season commences in 

 September, and continues during the three following months." 



Young males resemble the adult female. In their approach to maturity they may be 

 found in all stages of the intermingled plumage common to both se.xes, until they finally attain 

 their full adult liverj'. 



Malurus pulcherrimus. 



BLUE-BREASTED SUPERB WARBLER. 

 Malurus pulcherrimus, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1844, p. 106 ; i'l., Bds. Austr., fol., Vol. III., 

 pi. 23 (1848); id., Handhk. Bds. Austr., Vol. I., p. 326 (1865); North, Vict. Nat., Vol. 

 XVIII , p. 30 (1901). 



Adult male— /oreAearf, croton, and sides of the head purplish-bhie, passing into a rich cobalt 

 on the feathers around the eye and the ear- coverts ; sides of the neck and collar on the hind-neck 

 velvety black ; mantle and upper portion of the back purplish-blue; lower portion of the back and 

 rump velvety-black; scapulars chestnut-red ; wings brown, the primaries narrowly edged externally 

 with broicnish-u'hite, the inner secondaries edged with rufous ; tail dull blue, all but the Itvo central 

 feathers tipped with white; a triangular shaped mark in front of the eye black; cliin, throat, and 

 upper portion of the breast indigo-blue, which is followed by a narrow band of deep black: remainder 

 of the under surface dull white, rvashed tvith fulvous on the sides of the body and flanks ; bill black; 

 legs and feet black; iris blackish-broivn. Total length 5 inches, wing I'O, tail 2-7, bill OJ^, tarsus 0-9. 



Adult female — General colour above brown; upper wing-coverts and quills broivn, the 

 primaries narrowly edged externally with brownish-ivhite ; tail feathers dull blue; lores and a 

 narrow circle of feathers around the eye chestnut; throat, sides of the neck, and all the under 

 surface fulvous-brown, paler on the throat and centre of the abdomen, darker on the sides of the 

 body ; hill reddish-brown; feet fleshy-brown. 



Distribution. — Western Australia. 

 /T^HE adult males of the present species and of Malurus elegaiis may at once be distinguished 

 -L from their chestnut-shouldered allies, M. lamberti, M. assimilis, and M. amabilis, in having 

 the throat deep blue instead of black. Otherwise M. assimilis closely resembles M. pulcherrimus, 

 and for which it has been frequently mistaken. 



• Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. i.. p. 325 (1865). 



