27G TIMELIID.E. 



freckled, particularly on the larger end with reddish-chestnut or reddish-brown, where the 

 markings form a well defined cap or zone. A set of three, taken in the Wimmera District, 

 Victoria, measure: — Length (A) 0-63 x 0-47 inches; (B) 0-64 x 0-48 inches; (C) 0-65 x 0-48 inches. 

 In South Australia, Dr. A. M. Morgan informs me that he observed only two or three 

 of these birds about Laura, but he has a set of three eggs in his collection, taken in that 

 locality by the late IVIr. Malcolm Murray on the 26th July, 189S. 



In Western New South Wales, Mr. James Ramsay procured two nests and sets of eggs at 

 Tyndarie, in 1879, and there is a fine old adult male in the Australian Museum collection, 

 obtained by Mr. Hearne, near Dubbo. I procured an adult male at West Narrabri in 

 November, 1896, where I found it by no means uncommon in the brigalow scrubs, but never 

 met with it in the adjacent open forest-lands in the neighbourhood of the Namoi River, or on 

 the lightly timbered plains. In habits it closely resembles A.pusilla and other scrub frequenting 

 species, and the red colouring of the rump shows very conspicuously some distance away, 

 especially during flight. Tiie stomach of the specimen I obtained contained the remains of 

 minute insects. 



All the examples now before me of the so-called Acaiithiza pyrrlwpy^in procured in New 

 South Wales, may be readily distinguished from specimens obtained in South Austraha by 

 their larger size, rufous-chestnut upper tail-coverts, lighter under surface which have only a 

 slight tinge of fulvous on the flanks, and by their white under tail-coverts. The adult male 

 procured near Dubbo measures: — Total length 4^4 inches, wing 2-22, tail i"9, bill 0-38, tarsus o'g. 

 I purpose to distinguish this form under tile name of Acanthiza albiventris, the \\'hite-\ented 

 Thorn-bill. 



A set of three eggs, taken by Mr. James Ramsay at Tyndarie, Western New South Wales, 

 in October, 1S78, are oval in form, the shell being close-grained, smooth, and lustreless. They 

 are pure white, with a few pinkish-red dots and spots on the larger end. distributed in the form 

 of a zone; the remainder of the shell being devoid of markings: — Length (A) 0-67 x 0-47 

 inches; (B) 0-67 x 0'5 inches; (C) 0-67 x 0-48 inches. 



Acanthiza lineata. 



STRIPED-CROWNED THORX-BILL. 

 Acanthiza lineata, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1837, p. 14G; id., Bds. Austr., fob, Vol. III., pi. Gl 

 (1848); id., Handbk. Bds. Austr, Vol. I., p. 372 (1865); Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., 

 Vol. VII., p. 297 (1883). 



Adult male — General colour above dull olive sliyhlly brighter on the lower back and rump; 

 upper wing-coverts dusky -broton, indistinctly margined with olive-green; q^iills dusky brown, 

 narroioJy edged with olive-green, broader on the innermost secondaries ; upper tail-coverts didl olive- 

 hrotvn ; tail feathers ashy-brown, narrowly margined externally with olive-green and crossed by a 

 subterminal black band, decreasing in tvidth totvards the central pair ivhich have onJy a spot of black 

 in the centre; head olive-brown, darker on the forehead, all the fenlliers having narrow white shnft- 

 lines ; lores and centres of the feathers above the eye didl ivhiie; feathers below the eye and the 

 ear-coverts dull white with dusky margins; chin, throat, and fore-neck dull ivhite tcilh narrow 

 blackish margins to the sides of the feathers; remainder of the mider surface dull yelloivish-white, 

 the sides of the body darker and distinctly washed with olive; under tail-coverts pale fulvous yedoiv ; 

 bill dark brown; legs and feet greyish-brown; iris dull grey. Total length in the flesh i inches, 

 wing 2, tail 1-6, bill OS, tarsus 0-68. 



Adult female — Similar in plumage to tlie male. 



Distribution. — Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South .\ustralia. 



