MAU'RUS. 229 



So far as I am aware, the Blue-breasted Superb Warbler is strictly confined to the south- 

 western portions of Western Australia. In January, 1868, Mr. George Masters, while collecting 

 on behalf of the Trustees of the AustraHan Museum, succeeded in obtaining eleven specimens 

 near INfongup, Salt River. Mr. Masters informs me that it is an inland and by no means 

 common species, remarkably shy, and that he has ne\er observed it within less than sixty 

 miles of the coast. Those he procured were frequenting the margins of belts of "marloch" 

 trees, which grow in patches or belts resembling mallee scrubs, and vary from five to ten feet 

 in height. 



'•For a knowledge of this species,'" Gould writes,* "I am indebted to the researches of 

 Gilbert, who informs me that it appears to be exclusively confined to the thickets of the 

 interior of Western Australia; in habits and manners it greatly resembles the other members 

 of the genus, but its nest is somewhat smaller than either ;any , of them. .\. nest found on the 

 28th October, in the vicinity of the Wongan Hills, was placed on the upper branches of a 

 species of Hakca, about four feet from the ground; it contained two newly-laid eggs, which 

 resembled those of the other species of the genus, but had the blotches very much larger." 



Young males in change of plumage resemble the adult male, but have some of the feathers 

 on the crown of the head, hind-neck, and mantle brown, and some dull white feathers inter- 

 mingled with the dark indit,'o-blue feathers on the chin and throat. 



Malurus melanocephalus. 



SCAKLET-BACKED SUPERB WAKBLER. 

 Mmcicapa mdanocephala, Li,th., lad. Orn., p. lii., (ISOl), iium. male. 

 Sylvia dorsalis, Lnwin, BJs. New Holl, pi. XIV., {teste Sharpe). 

 Scarlet-back Warbler, Lewin, Bds. N.S.W., pi. XIV,, p. 14 (1822). 



Malurus melanocephalus, Vig. k Horsf., Trans. Liun. Soc, Vol. XV., p. 222 (1826); Gould, Bds. 

 Austr., fob, Vol. III., pi. 2G (1848); id., Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. I., p. 3.33 (186.5); 

 Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. IV., p. 296 (1879). 



Adult m.\le Head and neck velvety-black.- mantle, scapulars, back, and rump orange-scarlet; 



upper wing-coverts black; quills brown externally edyed ivith pale brown; upper tail-coverts black; 

 tail black; all the under surface velvety-black; bill black; legs and feet feshy-broivn; iris black. 

 Total length in the flesh i'o inches, iving 1-75, tail 2, bill 0:37, tarsus 0-72. 



Adult female— &'«jjera? colour above brown, tinged with fulvous on the back and rump; 

 upper wing-coverts like the back, the greater series mesiaUy streaked with dark brown ; quills dark 

 brown, the primaries externally edged and the secondaries margined ivith fulvous-brown; tail 

 feathers brown edged with fulvous-brown ; sides of the head and neck brown: all the under surface 

 dull white; sides of the body and abdomen pale fiilvous-brown ; upper mandible brown, lower 

 mandible fleshy-brown; legs pale fleshy-brown, feet slightly darker; iris dark brown. Total length 

 in the flesh 4-75 inches, iving IS, tail 2-3, bill 0-S2, tarsus 0-72. 



Distribution.— QM&ms\a.nd, North-eastern New South Wales. 



/-Ti55VIIE range of this species extends from the neighbourhood of Cairns, in North-eastern 



X Queensland, as far south (according to Lewin) as the Paterson River, an affluent of 



the Hunter River in New South Wales. It is principally an inhabitant of the coastal districts 



and contiguous mountain ranges, and is not found in the dry western portion of these States. 



In describing Malurus melanocephalus in the "Transactions of the Linnean Society," Messrs. 

 \'igors and Horsfield refer it to the Muscicapa mdanocephala of Latham. This species is founded 

 on the Orange-rumped Flycatcher in Latham's " General Synopsis of Birds," which description 



• Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. i., p. 326 (1865). 



