274 TIMELIID.E. 



with olive; under tviti(/-coverls and edge of the winy white; "bill dark brown ; legs and feet dark 

 greuish-broivn ; iris rich reddish-brown;" (Atkinson). Total length in the Jlssh J^o inches, wing 

 2-15, tail 1 'J, bill ■;.',, tarsus OQ. 



Adult ff.male — Similar in plmnage to the male. 



Distribution. — Tasmania. 



f~T^ll'E present species appears to be generally distributed throughout the humid mountain 

 J. ranges of Tasmania. Specimens were received in the flesh in ^larch, 1902, also of 

 Acanthornis magna, that were procured at W'aratah. Mount Bischoflf, also the nests and eggs of 

 these species. Examples have also been forwarded to me for examination, collected by ^Ir. 

 F. R. Zietz, at the foot of Mount Wellington, near Hobart, where Mr. Zietz informs me the 

 present species seems to be fairly connnon. There is also an adult female oi A. ra'iiigi in the 

 Australian Museum Reference Collection, received in July, 1879, obtained by Mr. K. ]5roadbent 

 near Georgetown, thirty-seven miles north-west of Launceston. 



Acanthiza ewingi is allied to A. diemenensis, and although averaging about the same wing- 

 measurement, the former species has a distinctly longer tail and tarsus. In co\o\it .4 . cwingi 

 may be at once distinguished by the darker upper surface, throat, and fore-neck, and by having 

 the abdomen and flanks a dull or dusky greenish-olive, of which the latter parts are pale fulvous 

 m A. diemenensis. The forehead, too, is light rufous, and has not the scaled appearance of its 

 ally; the primary coverts and spurious wing are blackish, and the basal portion of the outer 

 webs of most of the primaries are light rufescent-olive. The wing-measurement of adult 

 specimens now before me oi Acanthiza diemenensis, xaries from 2'05 to 2*23 inches, and of the 

 tail from 1-7 to i-8 inches. The wing-measurement of adult specimens of ^. ewingi varies from 

 2-12 to 2-23 inches, and of the tails from i-88 to 1-95 inches. Gould, who originally described 

 and figured Acanthiza eii'ingi in his folio edition of the " Birds of .\ustralia,"" pointed out the 

 principal diflferences between A. diemenensis and A. etinngi, but in his "Hanbbook"! places the 

 latter species as a synonym of A. diemenensis, without making any further reference to it. 



A nest of this species, taken by Mr. R. N. Atkinson, at Waratah, on the 22nd November, 

 1899, is a neat domed-shaped structure having a rounded entrance in the side. Externally it is 

 formed of thin strips of bark-fibre and thickly coated with bright green moss, the inside being 

 lined with the rich brown flossy covering of freshly budded fern-fronds and a thick layer of 

 feathers, those of the Yellow-bellied Parrakeet predominating, as in most nests in which 

 feathers are used as a lining material in this locality. Average external measurements four 

 inches and a half in height by three inches in diameter, and across the entrance one inch and a 

 quarter. "It was placed in a slender shrub growing near the end of a log, and contained three 

 heavily incubated eggs." This nest resembles very much in form a typical one oi Acanthiza 

 nana, and is far smaller and more symmetrical than that of its ally A. diemenensis. 



The eggs from the above nest are rounded ovals in form, and taper somewhat abruptly 

 towards the smaller end, the shell being close-grained, smooth, and fairly lustrous. They are 

 pure white, with distinct zones on the larger ends, formed of small confluent spots, streaks, and 

 flecks of diflTerent shades of purplish-red, a few similar markings being sparingly distributed 

 over the remainder of the shell, except on one specimen, which has a lengthened streak of 

 confluent spots towards the smaller end. Length (A) o*68 x o'52 inches; (B) o'57 x 0*52 inches; 

 (C) 0-69 X 0-5 inches. Two eggs in the collection of Mr. Charles French, Junr., received from 

 Mr. E. D. Atkinson, and taken by Mr. G. F. Hinsby on Mount Wellington, near Hobart, 

 measure alike 0-67 x 0-49 inches. 



• Bds. Austr., fol. Vol. iii., pi. 55 (1848). 



t Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. i., p. 365 (1865). 



