ACANTIIIZA. 281 



The eggs are three in number for a sitting, o\al in form, the shell being close-grained, 

 smooth, and slightly lustrous. They are of a delicate fleshy white, and are usually minutely 

 freckled all over with light reddish-brown, but particularly towards the larger end, where they 

 form a more or less well defined zone. In one set now before me, the markings, consisting of a 

 few scattered reddish-brown irregular-shaped spots, are confined entirely to the larger end. An 

 egg in another set of two, has numerous but almost invisible freckles nearly uniformly dis- 

 tributed over the shell, while the other has the markings in the form of a distinct band of 

 confluent spots on the thicker end. The latter set, taken at Mossgiel in September, 1886, 

 measures as follows: — Length (.V) 0-63 x 0-48 inches; (B) 0-63 x 0-5 inches. A set of three, 

 taken in the same locality on the 15th October, 1886, measures: — (A) 0-65 x 0-5 inches; (B) 

 o'65 X 0-48 inches; (C) o-66 x 0-48 inches. 



Nidification with this, as with tnany other species in South Australia, begins earlier in that 

 State than elsewhere. Dr. A. M. Morgan obtaining a nest with a fresh egg as early as the 2gth 

 July. Nests with fresh eggs, also young birds, were noted in Victoria by Mr. Nancarrow in 

 October; while the late ^Ir. K. H. Bennett found nests with eggs in Western New South 

 \\'ales from September to T)ecember. 



Acanthiza tenuirostris. 



SMALL-BILLED THORN-BILL 

 Acanthiza tenuirostris, Zietz, Trans. Roy. Soc. S.A., Vol. XXIV., p. 112 (1900); Sharpe, Hand-1. 

 Bds., Vol. IV., p. 220 (1903). 



Adult male — General colour above dull ashy-brown sligluly washed ivith olive, whicli is more 

 distinct on the lower back and rutiip / upper toing-coverts brown, the lesser series indistinctly tinged 

 tvith olive, the median and greater series ivith paler brown margins; quills brown, the primaries 

 narrowly edged with pale brown except the basal two-thirds of the outermost series ivhich are ashy- 

 ivhite on their outer webs, the secondaries margined with pale brozvn of a slightly lighter shade; 

 upper tail-coverts fulvous-white at the base, with an indistinct olive wash on their apical portion ; tail 

 feathers blackish-brown, ochraceous white at their extreme base, narrowly edged and tipped with pale 

 brown, the inner webs of the lateral feathers having a white spot at the tip, increasing in size toivards 

 the outermost feather, which has the apical portion of the outer web white; forehead blackish-brown, 

 all the feathers having broad whitish margins giving it a distinct scaled appearance ; lores and 

 feathers around the eye dull white washed ivith fulvous; cheeks ami ear-coverts brorvnisli-white, tvith 

 small pale broivn bases; throat, fore-neck, and upper breast dull as!iy-white ivith a faint yelloivish 

 ivash, the latter also slightly tinged with pale fulvous-broivn; sides of the abdomen and lower Jlanks 

 pale yelloiv slightly ivashed with olive; centre of the lower abdomen, the vent, and under tail-coverts 

 yeilowish-tvhite ; "bill black; legs and feet black; iris light yelloiv;" (Morgan). Total length SS 

 inches, wing 1-y, tail 1-5, bill 0-22, tarsus 0-65. 



Adult female — Similar in plumage to the male. 

 Distribution. — South .Vustralia, \\'estern Australia. 

 / I'^HIS very distinct species was described by Mr. A. Zietz, the Assistant Director of the 

 -L South Australian Museum, in the "Transactions of the Royal Society of South 

 Australia." ^^ The types, kindly sent on loan by the Director, Dr. E. C. Stirling, F.R.S., in the 

 following year, were obtained by Mr. R. M. Hawker on the iSth August, 1895, in the scrub at 

 Leigh Creek, between Lake Torrens and Lake Frome, about three hundred and seventy-four 

 miles north of Adelaide. With the specimens Mr. Zietz wrote as follows: — "^ly Acanthiza 

 tenuirostris may possibly be, after all, only a diminuti\'e form oi Acanthiza reguloidcs, Vig. & Horsf., 



* Trans. Roy. Soc. S.A., VoL xxiv., p. 112 (1900). 



