300 TIMELIID^. 



Cape York, and to the Gulf of Carpentaria on the north coast." This is undoubtedly an error. 

 The North-eastern Australian and the South-eastern Australian species are quite distinct. 



Although doubtless the Scriawin's frontalis of Gould's " Handbook to the Birds of Australia,"' 

 maj' be found in Southern Queensland, I have never seen a specimen in any collection from 

 there; but Sericovnis lievigaster is not uncommon. I received for examination, from Mr. Edwin 

 Ashby, an adult female of the latter species which he procured in October, 1903, in the 

 Blackall Ranges, about sixty miles north of Brisbane. There is not any species of Sericoynis 

 found in Western New South Wales, or the interior of the continent, unless one regards 

 Pyyrholcemits hrunneus, Gould, as a Sen'coriiis, which Dr. Sharpe does. 



I have examined the type of So'iconiis brunncopygius, Masters, in the Macleay Museum, at 

 the University of Sydney, which is synonymous with Gould's Scricornis minimus. The latter 

 is unquestionably distinct from the New South Wales, N'ictorian, and South .\ustralian species, 

 the adult male having the ear-coverts light rufous instead of dusky brown. A fully adult 

 specimen in the Australian Museum, obtained at Cape York, has the lores, feathers below 

 the eye, and the ear-coverts light rufous, the throat dull white, remainder of the under 

 surface faint yellowish-white, sides of the chest pale brown. It a<;rees fairly well with Gould's 

 figure of the adult female of 5. minimus, but has the tlanks only slightly darker than the breast. 

 Total length 3-9 inches, wing 2-15, tail i-6, bill 0-5, tisrsus 07. 



The White-fronted Scrub-Wren is chiefly an inhabitant of humid mountain ranges and 

 gullies, although I have often met with it in low scrub, brush, and belts of tea-tree. Generally 

 it is seen on or near the ground in search of insects, w'hich constitute its sole food. Under 

 shelving banks, and low fern-covered rocky sides of gullies, are its favourite haunts, and if 

 one remains quiet it may be seen hopping about, looking under logs and rocks, disappearing 

 perhaps from view for a time, and re-appearing later on some distance away. It is the same 

 among the low undergrowth, almost constantly on the move, and seldom remains long in one 

 place. 



The notes of this species resemble those of Oi'igma rubncata, Latham, but are not so loud, 

 and are varied occasionally with a succession of low creaking sounds. 



Specimens procured by Mr. J. A. Thorpe at Gosford, on the northern side of the 

 Hawkesbury River, New South Wales, are precisely similar to an example sent to me for 

 examination by Mr. Edwin .\sbby, obtained at Cape Otway, 'Victoria. -Ml of them have the 

 under surface more strongly washed with yellow than typical examples. Specimens received 

 on loan from the Trustees of the South Australian Museum, obtained at Square Waterhole, 

 South .\ustralia, are similar to examples procured by Mr. K. Grant at Lithgow, on the Blue 

 Mountains, New South Wales, and have the feathers more broadly streaked w-ith black. 

 Examples procured in the Illawarra District of New South Wales, are similar to specimens 

 obtained in South Gippsland, Victoria. Formerly I regarded the species inhabiting the latter 

 district as Sericornis osculans, but I have since proved that the latter is only the adult male 

 of what I have here described under the name of Sericornis frontalis, \ igors and Horsfield. 

 Typically adult males from mountainous districts, and the south-eastern portion of the con- 

 tinent have the throat more distinctly streaked with blackish-brown, and the subterminal bar 

 on the tail feathers more pronounced, but I have never seen from any part of South Australia 

 examples with the throat and fore-neck so conspicuously streaked as is shown in Gould's 

 figures of his Sericornis osculans,'''- neither have I seen any such specimens with the under parts 

 as are represented in his figures of Sericornis frontalis,^: which are at variance with his description 

 of this species on the page opposite to it. 



• Bds. Austr., fol.. Vol. iii., pi. 48 (1848). 

 t Loc. cit., fol., Vol. iii., pi. 49 (1848). 



