246 SYLVIID.«. 



are alike, o-6 inches. When held away from the light, the lustrous greyish centres to the 

 tips of the feathers of the head, hind-neck, and back of 5. longirostris, giving these parts a, 

 spangled appearance, will however, in addition to its smaller size, readily enable one to separate 

 the two species. 



While collecting on behalf of the Trustees of the Australian Museum, at King George's 

 Sound, Western Australia, in November, 1868, Mr. George Masters was successful in procur- 

 ing ten adult specimens of this species. Mr. Masters informs me that these birds keep in 

 the thick undergrowth near the coast, and that they are almost as difficult to procure as 

 Atrichia clamosa, owing to their frequenting such dense haunts. Eight specimens of A. clamosa 

 were also obtained by Mr. Masters during his stay in W'estern Australia. 



A nest of Spheiiuya loiigirostris, found by him at King George's Sound, is o\al in form with 

 a large entrance at the side, and is composed entirely of long dried hollow grass-stalks, 

 with a small portion of grass of a finer description placed inside at the bottom of the nest, 

 and underneath this slight lining a quantity of soft reddish-brown fibre; it measures six 

 inches in length, five inches in width, and four inches in heiglit. and was placed among 

 some dried vegetation close to the ground. It contained two eggs, tliick ovals in form, the 

 shell being close-grained and its surface lustrous. They are of a dull white ground colour, 

 which is minutely freckled and spotted with irregular shaped markings of wood-brown and 

 purplish-brown, but particularly on the larger end, where intermingled with underlying clouded 

 blotches, they are confluent and form a zone; the markings on one specimen being of a slightly 

 darker brown, and the zone on the larger end more clearly defined: — Length (A) o-g x 0-72 

 inches; (B) o'gi x 0-73 inches. The eggs of this species resemble those of a variety of 

 Drymodcs hninncopygia. 



Sphenura broadbenti. 



EUFOUS-HEADED BRISTLE-BIRD. 



Sphenura broadhenli, McCoy, Ann. k Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 3, 'Vol. XIX., p. 185 (1867): Gould, 

 Bds. Austr,, fol., Suppl., pi. 2.") (1869): .Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. VII., p. 106 

 (1883); North, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.'W., Vol. XXII., p. 58 (1897). 



Adult male — General colour above brown, t/ie hind-neck, niaiUle and vpjier portion of the back 

 with a sliglil ashy tinge and gradtiaUy passing into a rufescent-brorvn on tlie loiver hack, rump, and 

 iipper tail-coverts ; wings brown, with a rufescent wash which is more pronounced on the outer ivebs 

 of the quills; tail feathers rufescent-brotvn ; head dull rufous, with indistinct dark bro/rn centres to 

 the feathers; an acute angle-shaped patch in front and a narrow line of feathers around the eye 

 dull white; ear-coverts rufous; cheeks and chin dull white; feathers of the throat blackish-grey, with 

 broad greyish-white margins, those on the fore-neck and upper breast duller. in colour and having 

 pale broum margins; lower breast dull brown with indistinct whitish margins to the feathers ; centre 

 of the breast dull white; flunks browri, slightly tinged with olive; tinder tail-coverts brown, with a 

 rufescent shade; under side of tail feathers when viewed in certain lights golden-olive ; bill brown, 

 the under mandible slightly paler; legs arid feet brown. Total length lOS inches, wing 3 6, tail 5, 

 bill 0-7, tarsus IS. 



Adult female — Similar in plumage to the male, but slightly smaller. 



Distribution. — South-western Victoria. 



/"K^HIS fine Bristle-bird was discovered in 1858 in a dense scrub about twenty-four miles 

 _L from Portland Bay, Victoria, by Mr. Kendal Broadbent, who presented a single 

 example of it to the National Museum, Melbourne. It was first described by Sir Frederick 

 McCoy in the "Annals and Magazine of Natural History" in March, 1867, who named it in 

 honour of its discoverer. Subsequently the specimen from which his description was taken 



