242 SYLVIID.E. 



the British Museum," the latter writer omitted from the family Sylviidae all the Reed Warblers 

 inhabiting the small islets of the Pacific Ocean, with the exception of Sylvin syrin.v, Kittlilz, found 

 on the island of Ponape. Mr. Seebohm having adinittt-d that he was wrong in leaving them out, 

 Dr. Sharpe had therefore to place them with the Timeliine birds and perpetuate Lesson's genus 

 Tatare for their reception, including in it also Seebohm's Acrocephahts syrinx/'- Specimens of 

 Calmnoherpe rehsci, Finsch, recently received from Pleasant or Nawodo Island, and which species 

 Dr. Sharpe had to include in the genus Tatare, show no difference in external characters to 

 warrant their separation from the Australian members of the genus Acroccphaliis. Even includ- 

 ing the different species of Reed Warblers from the Pacific Islands in the genus Acrocephalns, 

 it is not then so comprehensive as the genus Malurus, which comprises in it a species {M. 

 alboscapidatus) inhabiting New Guinea, so widely divergent in the relative measurements of bill 

 and tail from the type of the genus, M. cyaneus. As pointed out by Dr. P^insch, Calamohcrpe 

 syrinx "in Ponape is a true Reed Warbler, confined to the reed swamps, and building its nest 

 in the reeds, in the same manner as our Calamohcrpe turdoidcs. In Ruk and the Mortlock"s, 

 C. syrinx leads an arboreal life and nests in trees, as is also the case on Nawodo, where 

 swampy grounds and reeds are absent."! The bird found on the latter island was sub- 

 sequently characterised by Dr. Finsch under the name oi Calamohcrpe rehsci. Canon Tristram, 

 in describing .'I (-)-wY/'//rt/»s pistor from Fanning Island,; also points out that the eggs of this 

 species are like those of A. turdoidcs of Europe. 



The members of Lesson's genus Tatare being included under the older generic name 

 of Acrocephalns, the specific name of longirostris, bestowed by Gmelin in 1788 on the species 

 inhabiting the Society Islands, cannot be used for the Western .\ustralian Reed Warbler. 

 Dubois, in his"Nouveau Manuel d'Ornithologie," has therefore distinguished the latter bird 

 under the name oi Acrocephalns goiildi.ii 



Stipiturus malachurus. 



EMU WREN. 

 Muscicapa inalachura, Shaw, Trans. Linn. Soc, Vol. IV., p. 212, pi. 21 (1798). 



Stipiturus malachurus, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol.. Vol. III., pi. 31 (1818); id., Handbk. Bds. Austr., 

 Vol. I., p. 339 (ISG;")); Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. VII., p. 100 (18S3). 

 Adult male — Forehead and crown of the head liyhl rufous, the latter streaked witli black; 

 hind-neck and mantle ashy-hroivn, passing into ochraceous-brown on the lower back and rump, all 

 the feathers on these parts having black centres, but which are broader and more conspicuous on the 

 hind-neck and mantle; upper iving-coverts ochraceous-brown, the greater coverts ivith broad black 

 centres; quills dark broivn, the inkier secondaries margined with ochraceous-brown ; tail feathers 

 blackish-brown, six in number and loosely ivebbed, the outermost feathers about half the length of the 

 central pair ; cheeks and ear-coverts ochraceous-brown, the latter with ivhilish shaft lines; a narrow 

 line of feathers over the eye, chin, throat, and fore-neck light blue; centre of the breast whitish; 

 remainder of the under surface ochraceous-brown, darker on the sides of the body, thighs, and 

 under tail-coverts ; bill blackish-brown ; legs pale olive-brown, feet slightly darker, soles of feet light 

 ochraceous-brown; iris dark brown. Total length in the flesh 7 inches, wing 1-65, two central tail 

 feathers J^S, bill OSo, tarsus OS. 



• Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. v., p. loo (1881). 



t "The Ibis," 1881, p. 247. 



I "The Ibis," 1883, p. 45. 



§ Nouv. Man. d'Orn , p. 369 {1901). 



