ACANTIIIZA. '2rJ 



THICX comparing examples of Acauthiza iiwrnata, obtained in the neighbourhood of 

 Terth. A\\-stern Austraha, with others lalielled as such in the Reference Collection 

 of the Australian Museum, I observed that the latter, although closely allied, were quite distinct 

 from the Perth specimens and (iould's original figure and description o^ A. inoniata. Upon 

 referring to the "Catalogue of Birds in the British INIuseum,"'^ I found that Dr. Sharpe in a 

 foot-note to his description of Acauthiza liioniata, had also noted the difference in colour between 

 the King George's Sound and Swan River birds. The birds from the former locality I have 

 distinguished as Acanthisa iiiastcvsi, after Mr. Cieorge Masters, Curator of the Macleay Museum 

 of the University of Sydney, who, while collecting at King George's Sound in October and 

 November, 1868, on behalf of the Trustees of the .Australian IMuseum, obtained several 

 specimens, likewise the nest and eggs. The darker upper and under surface will always 

 ser\e to distinguish .'/. luaiteni from its near ally A. iiiontata. 



A nest of this species in the .Vustralian Museum collection, taken on the 3rd December, 

 1868, is a dome-shaped structure, with an entrance near the top, and is composed of the dried 

 wiry stems of a Divsera, fine strips of bark, and the downy buds from Baiiksia cones, matted 

 together with spider's webs and egg-bags, and lined inside with soft silky-white seeds of some 

 composite plant. It measures exteriorly four inches and a quarter in height by three inches in 

 width; the aperture, which is o\ al and near the top. being one inch in height, and one inch and 

 a quarter in breadth. The nest is not suspended, but firmly packed between and at the 

 junction of several nearly upright branches of a Banksia, and was about five feet from the 

 ground. It contained two eggs, which are o\al in form and of a fleshy-white ground colour, 

 freckled all over with irregular-shaped markings of reddish-brown, particularly towards the 

 larger end, where they become conlluent and form a well defined zone: — Length (A) 07 x 0-52 

 inches; (B) 0-69 x 0-52 inches. 



Acanthiza uropygialis. 



CHEsrNUr-EUMPED THOEN-BILL. 

 Acanthiza nropygialis, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1837, p. 146; id., Bds. Austi-., fob, Vol. III., pi. 56 

 (1848); id., Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. I., p. 367 (1865); Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus , 

 Vol. V^I., p. -298 (1883). 



Adult male — General colour above bro>vn slightly tinged with olive; upper wing-coverts like 

 the hack, the greater series with dusky brown centres; quills dusky-brown, the primaries having 

 externally narroiv indistinct whitish edges, and the secondaries pale brown margins becoming almost 

 white around the tips of the inner series; upper tail-coverts and basal portion of the tail feathers 

 chestnut, the apical half of the latter black distinctly tipped with white on the inner loeh and very 

 pale brown on the outer web, these tips decreasing in size towards the central pair; head like the 

 back but with a distinct rufescent shade on the sinciput; forehead blackish-brown, the feathers 

 having whitish margins; feathers beloiu the eye and the ear-coverts ashy-white ivith brown bases 

 and centres, giving these parts a mottled appearance; all the under surface ashy-white, being of a 

 slightly purer white on the chin and centre of the abdomen, the flanks faintly tinged loith fulvous ; 

 thighs brown; under tail-coverts tvhite ; "bill dark broivn ; legs and feet blackish; iris tohite;" 

 (Bennett). Total length SO inches, wing.il, tail 13, bill 0o5, tarsus 0-65. 



Adult female — Similar in plumage to the male. 



Distribution.— Q,\i&&ns\s.nd, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, 

 North-western Australia. 



Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. vii., p. 293 (1883). 



