332 TIMELIID.E. 



the centres of the feathers on the head darker, and those on the hind-necTc margined with wliity-hroion; 

 lores, and a distinct eyebrow fulvous-white ; in front of the eye a small brown spot; chin and throat 

 dull white; remainder of the under surface pale fulvous white, with a brownish wash on the sides of 

 the fore-neck and breast, most of the feathers having either a small spot in the centre or a dark brown 

 shaft-line; centre of the lower breast and of the abdomen brownish-black; thighs and under tail- 

 coverts fulvous-white, some of the latter centred n-ith broivn ; bill fleshy-brown, darker on the culmen; 

 legs and feet pale fleshy-broicn. Total length in the flesh 7-2 inches, icing 3 1, tail 2 6, bill 055, 

 tarsus 1. 



Distribution. — North-western Australia, Northern Territory of South AustraHa, Queensland, 

 New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia. 



/~f^^ HIS migratory species is found in one season or another in favourable situations in most 

 JL parts of the Australian continent. In South-eastern Australia it usually arrives at the 

 latter end of August, or early in September, and departs again in February. In New South 

 Wales, however, its appearance is greatly influenced by the state of the season, for in periods of 

 drought it is seldom seen, or only in diminished numbers; while after an abundant rainfall, when 

 there is a luxuriant growth of grasses and herbage, it is tolerably common, and then may be 

 absent from the same district for several years. It chiefly frequents open expanses of well 

 grassed and pastoral lands, cultivation paddocks, and near the coast fern and heath-covered 

 sandy wastes. At one time it used to frequent in the spring and summer months the low-lying 

 fern and scrub-lands at the mouth of the Yarra River, near Melbourne, and it still occasionally 

 visits Randwick and Botany, near Sydney. Although passing most of its time on the ground, 

 this species frequently perches on a stump, fence, or tree, but at all times I have found it far 

 more wary than its lesser congener Cincloramphus rufescens, and more especially the male during 

 the breeding season. 



The preceding descriptions are taken from a pair of birds shot at Kenmore, near Goulburn, 

 New South Wales, by Mr. E. Payten, on the 13th November, igoo, which he forwarded to the 

 Trustees of the Australian Museum on the following day, together with their nest and two eggs. 

 An adult male, in similar plumage, was shot at Randwick by Mr. H. Newcombe on the 28th 

 November, 1901. As a rule, however, adult males obtained in New South Wales during 

 December, have more or less of the dusky-brown feathers of the under surface narrowly 

 margined with pale ashy-brown, these margins gradually increasing in size throughout the late 

 summer and the autumn months, until the centre of the breast is dusky-brown, and the 

 remainder of the under parts ashy-brown, with the feathers of the throat and fore-neck mottled 

 with dusky-brown. Individual variation, especially in the colour and markings on the under 

 parts, however, exists in specimens obtained in the same month, and even in the same locality. 

 Most of the adult males in the .Xustralian Museum collection, obtained in New South Wales, 

 with the under surface uniform dusky-brown, were procured in No\ember. An adult male, 

 obtained at Port Denison, Queensland, in the same month, has the chin, throat, and fore-neck 

 ashy-brown, slightly tinged with dusky-brown, and the breast and abdomen only uniform 

 dusky-brown. I cannot find any specific difiference in specimens obtained in North-western 

 Australia from others procured in New South Wales. Adult females differ very little in their 

 winter and summer plumage. An adult female I shot on Weebollabolla Station, near Moree, 

 on the loth November, 1897, is similar to the one described above, but the feathers are more 

 broadly margined with whity-brown, and it is barely through the moult. On their first arrival 

 in New South Wales, at the end of August or early in September, they are paler and less 

 mottled on the under surface. As pointed out by Gould, there is a great disparity in size in the 

 sexes of this species, the female being very mucli smaller than the male. 



Stomachs I have examined contained the remains of insects, principally beetles, and also 

 the skins of caterpillars, and in some a few seeds. 



