MEGALUEUS. 255 



secondaries hlackish-brown maryined with fulvous-brown; tail feathers fulvous-brown with black 

 shafts; lores and eyebroiv dull whitish ; ear-coverts brown loilh narrow white shaft-lines; under surface 

 of the body dull white, the chest washed with yellowish-buff in the centre; sides of the body broum ; 

 abdomen, except in the centre, brown washed with yellowish-buff; under tail-coverts yellowish-buff. 

 Total length 6-7 inches, icing 2-6S, tail Su, bill OS, tarsus 0-9. 



Distribution. — Northern Territory of South AustraHa, (Xieensland, New South \\'ales. 

 aFN favourable situations the Tawny Grass-bird is found throughout the greater part of the 

 r coastal districts of Northern and Eastern Australia. In the Northern Territory of South 

 Australia, Gilbert found it on the islands at the head of Van Dieman's Gulf; and the late Mr. 

 Edward Spalding procured a number of specimens near Port Darwin. In Queensland, Mr. 

 Gulliver obtained it at Normanton, near the shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria; Mr. Kendal 

 Broadbent found it at Cardwell; and the late Mr. J. Rainbird procured specimens at Port 

 Denison. Mr. George Masters collected specimens at Wide Bay, in October, 1867, on behalf 

 of the Trustees of the Australian Museum; and the late Mr. George Barnard found it breeding 

 on the Dawson River, about eighty miles inland from Rockhampton. 1 can find no authentic 

 record of this species being obtained at Cape York. Mr. J. A. Thorpe informs nie that neither 

 he nor the late Mr. James Cockerell ever met with or procured this species during their stay at 

 Cape York. Mr. Bertie Jardine, who has been a resident there all his life, also informs me that 

 he has never observed it there. 



Two specimens that were obtained in New South Wales, came from the Richmond River 

 District; Gould saw examples that were procured on the Liverpool Plains; and in the Macleay 

 Museum is an adult male and female obtained by Mr. George Masters at Rope's Creek, who 

 informs me that he has also obtained this species at Long Bay. Both of these localities are in 

 the neighbourhood of Sydney. It is not found in the southern or central portion of the State, 

 neither does it occur in Victoria. 



The preceding description is taken fronr a fine old adult male, obtained by Mr. George 

 Masters at Wide Bay in October, 1867, and is the largest and richest coloured specimen I have 

 seen. The wing-measurement of adult males now before me varies from 2-3 to 2-68 inches. 

 The long acuminate central tail feathers will readily serve to distinguish this and the following 

 species from any other grass or reed-haunting passerine bird found in Australia. 



iMthough the range of the Tawny Grass-bird extends over the greater portion of the Northern 

 Territory of South .\ustralia, and Northern and Eastern Queensland, and parts of Northern New 

 South Wales, it is of so shy and retiring a disposition that it is a species seldom met with. The 

 late Mr. George Barnard, of Coomooboolaroo, Dawson River, Queensland, shortly before his 

 decease, informed me that while collecting specimens of Microlepidoptera on his station on the 

 26th of October, 1893, he flushed one of these birds from the rush-bordered bank of a dry 

 creek, and, after a diligent search, succeeded in finding its nest at the bottom of a tuft of long 

 rushes. The nest was a deep cup-shaped structure, slightly domed or narrow at the top, and 

 was outwardly composed of dried swamp grasses, lined inside with feathers, and contamed 

 three fresh eggs, two of which he unfortunately broke. The remaining egg was forwarded 

 to me for description by Mr. Charles Barnard. It is precisely similar in colour and markings 

 to those of its congener, Mcgalunis gvamineus, but is slightly larger, being of a reddish-white 

 ground colour, freckled all over with purplish-red markings, which predominate as usual on the 

 thicker end of the egg. Length o-8 x 0-58 inches. I also received an egg for examination from 

 Mr. C. Trench, Junr., which was taken near the Daly River, in the Northern Territory of 

 South Australia, in h'ebruary, 1902. 



