290 TIMKLIID.E. 



Acanthornis magna. 



MOUNTAIN WREN. 



Acanthiza magna, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol., Suppl., pi. 28 (1869); u!., Handbk. Bds. Austr , Vol. 

 I., p. .373 (1865). 



Sericoriii.i magna, Sliarpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. ^Iii.s., Vol. VII , p. 308 (1883). 



Acanthornis magna, Legge, Pioc. Roy. Soc. Tas., 1880, p. 236; id., Ibis, 1888, p. 93; Sharpe, 

 Hand-1. Bds., V^ol. IV., p. 222 (1903); North, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., 30th March, 190-t. 



Adult male — General colour above olive-broton, passing into a reiidish-hroivn on the lower back 

 arid rump ; upper wing-coverts greyish-black slightly tinged ivith olive, the median and greater series 

 tipped with white: quills greyisli-black, the outer primaries narrou-hj edged with ashy-white, the 

 secondaries edged with while arou.nd the tip, more broadly on the iymermost series; upper tail- 

 coverts reddish-brown; tail feathers ashy-brown, the central pair washed and t/te remainder externally 

 margined with reddish-brown aud crossed ivitli a broad sublerminal black band, the lateral feathers 

 with a broad white margin near the end of their inner webs, the outer ireb of the outermost feather 

 also edged with white at the tip; head olive-broivn, an indistinct line of feathers extending from the 

 nostril over the eye whitish; feathers below the eye dull ashy-black, the ear-coverts of a slightly clearer 

 ash colour, and having narrow indistinct white shaft-lines ; cheeks, chin, throat, and all the under 

 surface yellowish-white or light straw-yellow, slightly richer in colour on the centre of the breast; 

 sides of the body, flanks, and thighs warm olive-brown, the inner sides of the latter straw-yellow ; 

 under tail-coverts light straic-yellow, some of the longer feathers with brown centres; "bill blackish- 

 brown, lighter at the base of the loiver mandible; legs and feet olive-brown; iris yelloiuisli-slone 

 colour;" (Atkinson). Total length in the flesh J/-') inches, iving215, tail 19, bill Oo, tarsus 0-9. 



Adult fem-ALE — Similar i»j plumage to the male. 



Distribution. — Tasman ia. 



^^HIS single representative of a very distinct genus, although by no means plentiful, 

 appears to be widely distributed over the island of Tasmania. Dr. L. Holden 

 observed one in the scrub at the mouth of Sister's Creek, on the north-west coast of Tasmania. 

 Mr. G. H. Hinsby has found several of its nests on Mount Wellington, near Hobart, in 

 the south-eastern part of the island; and at Waratah, at the foot of Mount BischofF, Mr. E. D. 

 Atkinson and his son, Mr. R. N. Atkinson, have obtained birds, nest, and eggs. Gould, who 

 described the type of this species from a specimen obtained in the northern part of Tasmania, 

 by Mr. Ronald C. Gunn, figures it in his "Supplement to the Birds of .Australia "" under the 

 name of Acanthiza magna; while Dr. Sharpe, in the "Catalogue of the Birds in the British 

 Museum,"! places it in the genus Sericornis. For an opportunity of e.xamining a series of 

 these birds, I am indebted to Mr. R. X. .Atkinson, who first kindly forwarded to the Trustees of 

 the Australian Museum two specimens in the flesh, an adult male and female, which he had 

 shot in the scrub at Waratah, on the 15th March, 1902. Although allied to both Acanthiza and 

 Sericornis, the distinctly curved bill alone would have been sufficient to justify Colonel Legge in 

 separating it from either, and instituting for its reception the genus Acanthornis, in which he 

 places it.^ In addition to other characters, it differs from either Acanthiza or Sericornis, in 

 having long downy plumes on the lower back, which are even more pronounced than in 

 Pycnoptiius. There is very little difference in the two birds sent by Mr. Atkinson, the female 

 being but of a slightly lighter shade of yellow on the under parts; the white tips to the greater 



• Bds. Austr., fol., Suppl., pi. 28 (1869). 



t Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. vii., p. 308 (1883). 



J "The Ibis," 1888, p. 03. 



