.230 MUSCICAPID.E. 



accurately agrees, e\-en to the old and abraded brown tail feathers, with one of the stages of 

 plumage of the immature male. 



As already pointed out by Dr. Kamsay/- the Sylvia doysnlis of Lewin + is undoubtedly 

 the Malurus mclanoccphalus as figured by Gould, and certainly not the .1/. criicntatus of Gould. 

 The type of the latter species was obtained in North-western Australia, and the bird figured by 

 Lewin, it is stated "inhabits the forests near the banks of the Paterson River." This locality 

 is the farthest south in New South Wales that the Scarlet-backed Superb Warbler has been 

 recorded. Moreover Lewin refers to his work, published in i8o8, as the "Birds of New- South 

 Wales,'\J and not as the "Birds of New Holland," a title it received in London where the letter- 

 press was printed. All the species figured are well known in New South Wales, and, with the 

 exception of five are common in the neighbourhood of Sydney at the present day. Probably 

 Lewin obtained the specimens from which his description and figures of the "Scarlet-back 

 Warbler "j were taken, when he accompanied Colonel Paterson, the Lieutenant-Governor of 

 the then recently formed colony of New South Wales, in his exploration of the Hunter River 

 in the barque "Lady Nelson" in June and July, 1801. All the copies I have seen of Lewin's 

 works referring to the Australian avifauna give the vernacular names of the species only. The 

 name, Sylvia dorsalis, Lewin, in the preceding synonymy, is given upon the authority of Dr. 

 Sharpe, wlio quotes it for the northern and north-western species Malurus cruciitaius, and 

 doubtless occurs in the 1808 edition. It is remarkable, however, that in the 1822 and 1838 

 re-issues of Lewin's work, the scientific name of each species should ha\e been omitted. 



I have a series of twenty adult males now before me, including specimens procured from 

 as far north as Cairns, Queensland, to the Macleay Ri\er in New South Wales. Adult males 

 from the Herbert River, Cardwell, and Cairns, Queensland, are slightly deeper in colour than 

 examples obtained in New South Wales. As pointed out by Gould, ' the brown tail feathers 

 of the young males are longer than when the bird attains the fully adult plumage, when 

 they are black. I have a young male now before me with the central tail feathers measuring 

 2-4 inches. 



During a visit to the Clarence River District in 1898, 1 met with this species in pairs 

 frequenting the low undergrowth and long grass. In habits it resembles Malurus lamhcrti, but the 

 scarlet back of the adult male renders it more conspicuous than that species, if not of the genus. 

 A nest just ready for the reception of eggs was found by my companion on the 7th November, 

 also another nest containing three young birds that had recently emerged from the shell. In 

 the former instance the nest was built in some long grass, near a log lying on the ground, and 

 close to some thick scrub, its whereabouts being betrayed by the birds. On visiting it a week 

 afterwards, I found that the nest and its surroundings had been consumed by a bush fire. The 

 other one, containing three young, was built in some "blady grass" near a creek in a cleared 

 paddock. This nest, which is represented on Plate A. V., I photographed under some difficul- 

 ties two days later, in a moisture-laden atmosphere, with the thermometer standing at 104° in 

 the shade. Visiting this nest on the 17th November, I found the young fully feathered, and 

 crowded together at the entrance of the nest, which was much enlarged. In colour they 

 resembled the female. On hearing the warning cries of the parents, they scrambled out of 

 the nest and concealed themselves in the surrounding grass. 



The stomachs of a number of these birds 1 have examined contained the remains of 

 various kinds of insects, and principally the heads, legs, and wing-cases of small beetles. 



• Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W,, 2nd ser., Vol. i , p 10S9 (1886). 



t Bds. New Holl.. pi. xiv. 



J Sydney Gaz., Nov. 20th, 1808. 



§ Bds. N.S.W.. pi. xiv., p. 14 {1822). 



II Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. i., p. 334 (1865). 



