248 SYLVIID.B. 



Young birds are brown above, with a rufescent tinge which is more pronounced on the 

 lower back and rump; upper tail-coverts, tail, and wings rich rufescent-brown; lores, forehead, 

 sides of crown, and ear-coverts brown, strongly washed with rufous; feathers of the chin, 

 throat, and fore-neck dull white, tinged with rufous, and having narrow indistinct dusky 

 margins or tips; centre of the breast dull white, tinged with rufous; remainder of the under 

 surface brown, with a strong rufescent tinge; under tail-coverts pale rufescent-brown; the 

 under surface of the tail feathers has a lustrous golden-brown slieen when held away from 

 the light. Total length 9-5 inches, wing y^. tail 4-5, bill o'6, tarsus 1-3. In specimens 

 exhibiting a further progress towards maturity, there is a triangular-shaped patch of dull 

 greyish-white feathers in front of the eye; the feathers of the chin, throat, and centre of the 

 breast are margined with whitish-brown, and those of the fore-neck and upper breast with 

 pale brown; remainder of the under surface as in the adult male, but the thighs and under tail- 

 foverts have a more pronounced rufous shade. 



OerfU-S .,f^lv^"5rTIS, Lesson. 



Amytis textilis. 



GEASS WREN. 

 Merion ntittt\ Quoy et Gaim., Voy. de I'Uranie, Atlas, pi, xxiii , fig. 1. 

 Malur^is textilis, Quoy et Gaim , Voy. de I'Uranie, ZooL, p. 107 (1824); North, Rep. Horn Sci. 



Exped. Centr. Austr, Pt. II, ZooL, p. 79 (189G) (part). 

 Amytis textilis, Lesson, Traite d'Orn., Atlas, p. 4.")4, pi. 67, fig. 2 (1831). 



Adult male — General colour above dark brown, each feather having a narroiv mesial stripe 

 of white down the centre, these streaks being less distinct on the lower back and rump, which is 

 rufescent-brown; lesser tving-coverts rust-red; the median and greater wing-coverts brown, with dull 

 rufescent-broivn margins and huffy-iohite shaft-streaks ; quills brown, the primaries externally 

 margined ivith dshy more broadly at the base, the secondaries having dull rufescent margins; upper 

 tail-coverts broken, witli indistinct riifescent-broicn margins and paler brown shaft-streaks; tail 

 feathers broirn, margined ivith, pale brotvn; fore part of the head dusky brotvii and similarly streaked 

 like the back; lores light rust-red; ear-coverts dusky brown, mesially streaked tcith dull luhite; 

 anterior portion of the cheeks black ivith white shaft streaks; all the under surface pale buff'y-brown, 

 the chin, throat, and fore-neck mesially streaked with dull ivhile, each feather being indistinctly 

 bordered with rufescent-brown ; sides of the breast dull rust-red; centre of the abdomen with a slight 

 ashy shade; thighs and under tail coverts dark broirn. Total length 62 inches, wing 2 S, tail 3 '2, 

 bill 0-4, tarsus 9. 



Distribution. — Western Australia, Central Australia. 

 ^T^HE type of Amytis textilis was obtained during the "\'oyage of the Uranie," by Quoy 

 J- and Gaimard, at Shark Bay, Western Australia. Gould states that he also obtained 

 it in New South Wales, but I do not think the birds he procured and which he figured in his 

 "Birds of Australia,"" under the name oi Amytis textilis, are applicable to that species. The 

 only specimens of this bird I have seen were obtained by the Horn Exploring Expedition in 

 Central Australia in 1894. Mr. G. A. Keartland also informs me that he obtained similar birds 

 in Western Australia during the journey of the Calvert Exploring Expedition in 1896, but 

 they were abandoned in the desert near Johanna Springs. 



Mr. Keartland writes me as follows, relative to this species: — "Amytis textilis is an 

 inhabitant of Central and Western Australia, and in the latter State is a lover of dense 



• Bds. Austr., fol. Vol. iii., pi. 28 (1848). 



