SEIUCOHNIS. 



299 



Sericornis frontalis. 



WHITE-FRONTED SCRUB-WREN. 

 Acanlhiza frontalis? Vig. 1- Horsf., Trans. Linn. .Soc, Vol. XV., p. 22G (1826). 

 Sericornis osctdans, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1847, p. 2; id., Bds. Austr., fol., Vol. III., pi. 48 

 (1848); id., Handbk. Bds. Austr, Vol. I., p. 3.58 (1865); Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mas., 

 Vol. VIII., p. 309 (1883); id., Hand-1. Bds., Vol. IV., p. 221 (1903). 

 Sericornis frontalis, Gould, Syn. Bds. Austr., Pt. IV., pi. 3, tig. (1838); id., Bds. Austr., fol., Vol. 

 III., text only opp. pi. 49 (1848); id., Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. I., p. 359 (1865). 



Adult male — General colour above hroion, with a rufescent-olive wash, which is more pro- 

 nounced on the rump and upper tail-coverts ; lesser and median wing-coverts like the bach, indistinctly 

 tipped with white ; the i/reater coverts blackish with -while tips; priinary coverts black ; bastard wing 

 feathers blackish, the outer webs narroiiiy edged and the inner webs broadly margined with white at 

 the tips: quills dark ashy-brown externally washed with rufescent olive, the latter colour more pro- 

 nounced on lice innermost secondaries : tail featliers brown quashed with rufescent-olive, and crossed 

 by a distinct broivnish-black band except the central pair and the outer web of the outermost feather ; 

 forehead, feathers in front and extending in a line below the eye blackish; a supraloral spot and a 

 streak over the eye white, bordered on the forehead with a line of blackish feathers ; ear-coverts dusky 

 broivn: chin and cheeks white ; throat yellowish-white with broad blackish-brown streaks; fore-neck 

 and centre of the breast pale yelloiv washed zvith ashy on the chest; sides of the neck and breast ashy- 

 brown; flanks olive-brown ; under tail-coverts yellowish-buff, with dark brotvn centres to the feathers ; 

 bill blackish-brown; legs feshy brown; feet dark brown; iris yellowish-white. Total length in the 

 flesh Jfl i)iches, tving 2'2, tail 1'85, bill 0'Jf7, tarsus O'S. 



Adult female — Differs from the male in having the line over the eye of a dull wldte, and 

 narrower and not so clearly defined; the lores and feathers in front of the eye are dusky-broivn like 

 the ear-coverts ; the cheeks, chin, and throat are dull white, the latter devoid of blackish-brown streaks, 

 and the tail feathers uniform in colour, or, with only a slight indication of the subterniinal hlackish- 

 brown band. 



Distribution. — New South Wales, \'ictoria. South Australia. 

 /T^HE type of Sericornis frontalis was described by \'igors and Horsfield in the "Trans- 

 -L actions of the Linnean Society,"'-' but the locality is not given. In describing the 

 adult of this species, Dr. Sharpe, who had the advantage of examining Vigors and Horsfield's 

 type in the British Museum collection, states that "the ear-coverts are rufous," I although in 

 the key to the species of the genus Seyicornis,\ it is given of S. frontalis as "ear-coverts light 

 rufous (juv.) or blackish (ad.)." Above his description of Sericornis frontalis, both Sericornis 

 minimus, Gould, and Sericornis brunneopygiits. Masters, are placed as synonyms of this species. 

 If the ear-coverts of the type of Sericornis frontalis, Vig. and Horsf., are rufous, as stated by 

 Dr. Sharpe in his description, then 5. minimus, Gould, and 5. hrnnncopygius, Masters, are rightly 

 placed as synonyms of it. The species, too, hitherto known in New South Wales, Victoria, 

 and South Australia, under the name of Sericornis frontalis, must in future bear the name of 

 Sericornis osculans, Gould, which is only the adult male of S. frontalis. If, however, the ear- 

 coverts of Sericornis frontalis, Vig. and Horsf., are blackish or dusky-brown then Gould's name 

 of Sericornis minimus must stand for the Cape York species, and Sericornis osculans, Gould, rank as 

 a synonym of Sericornis frontalis. 



Dr. Sharpe gives the habitat of Sericornis frontalis as "South Australia and \'ictoria, 

 e.xtending into the interior, through New South Wales, along the east coast of Australia to 



' Trans. Linn. Soc, Vol. xv., p. 226 (1826). 

 t Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. vii., p. 303 (1883). 

 I Loc. cit., Vol. vii., p. 301 (1883). 



