232 MUSCICAPID.E. 



Malurus cruentatus. 



CKIMSON-BACKED SUPERB WARBLER. 

 Malurus cruentatus, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1839, p. Ii3; id., Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. I., p. 



334 (1865). 

 Mahirus hroivnii, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol.. Vol. III., pi. 27 (1848). 



Mahtrus dorsalis, (nee Sylvi.^ dorsalis, Lewin), Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mas , Vol. IV., p. 296 (1879). 

 Malurus cruentatus boweri, Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W,, 2nd ser.. Vol. I., p. 1100 (1886). 



Adult m.\le — Head and neck velvety -black : mantle, scapulars, hack, and rump deep crimson; 

 upper wing-coverts ayid the innermost secondaries black: quills brown, the primaries externally 

 edged with paler broivn; upper tail-coverts and tail feathers black; all the under surface velvety- 

 black; bill black; legs and feet fleshybrotrn ; iris black. Total length 3'7 inches, wing l-(l'), tail 

 1-75, bill 0-3, tarsus 072. 



Adult fkmale — General colour above fulvous-brown ; upper toing-coverts like the back; quills 

 brown, externally margined with fulvous-brown ; tail feathers brown, margined with fulvous-hi-outn; 

 feathers around the eye and sides of the neck fulvous ; all the under surface dull white, tinged with 

 fulvous on the lower neck; sides of the body and under tail-coverts fulvous. Total length 4'3 inches, 

 wing 1-65, tail 2-3, bill 3, tarsus 072. 



Distribution. — North-western Australia, Northern Territory of South .•\ustralia, Northern 

 Queensland. 



^~jr^HV. present species, described by Gould in 1839, was one of the novelties obtained by 

 -L the Officers of H.M.S. "Beaj^le," in North-western .Vustralia. In his folio edition of 

 the "Birds of Australia," Gould figures it under the name of Malurus brownii, the latter species 

 being described by \'igors and Horsfield from a specimen procured by Mr. Brown in September 

 1802, near the inner entrance of Thirsty Sound, on the eastern coast of Queensland. In his 

 "Handbook," Gould restores his name oi M . cruentatus for the north-western and northern species, 

 and places M. brownii as a synonym of M. melanocephalus. Undoubtedly Gould was correct 

 in the latter view, for adult males from the neighbourhood of Thirsty Sound are but slightly 

 deeper in tint than typical examples of M. melanocephalus, obtained in New South Wales. Dr. 

 Sharpe states" that "the type of M. brownii scarcely equals in intensity the blood-red or crimson 

 colouring of the Port Essington and N.W. .Vustralian birds; and it seems that there may be 

 possibly three species of red-backed Maluri, differing only in the intensity of the colouring of 

 the back." I do not agree with there being three species, for when a large series of these birds 

 from different parts of the continent are e.xamined. it will be found that M. melanocephalus, Lath., 

 and Af. cruentatus, Gould, intergrade one with the other. Even at Cairns, which is very much 

 further north than Thirsty Sound, the common species is the darker coloured race of M. 

 melanocephalus, with the unmistakeable orange tint in the feathers of the back. Of fifteen adult 

 males now before me from that neighbourhood, collected by Messrs. Cairn and Grant, thirteen 

 belong to this race and only two approach in colour the M. cruentatus of Gould. 



My descriptions have been taken from examples obtained at Derby, North-western .\ustralia. 

 Adult females from this part of the continent may be distinguished by the stronger fulvous wash 

 on the upper and under surface. In specimens from the Northern Territory and Port Essington 

 this shade is more apparent on the upper tail-coverts. Specimens o( Malurus- cruentatus in the 

 Australian Museum collection, were obtained by Mr. E. J. Cairn, the late Mr. T. H. Bowyer- 

 Bower and Mr. G. A. Keartland, in the neighbourhood of Derby, North-western Australia; by 

 Mr. A. Morton at Port Essington; by Mr. Kendal Broadbent and Mr. Gulliver at the Gulf of 

 Carpentaria; and by Mr. J. .\. Thorpe at Cape York. The adult male obtained by Mr. Gulliver 



• Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. iv., p. 297 (1879). 



