340 TIMKLlin.E. 



Mr. E. H. \\'ebb writes me: — "Psophodes crepitans, subsp. lateralis, is very common in the 

 scrubs along the Russell River, and towards Bellenden Ker. It appears to breed very early. 

 In August, 1903, I found many nests containing young, or nests that had been recently deserted, 

 but did not succeed in obtaining one with eggs. The nests resembled those oi Psophodes crepitans, 

 but more strongly built if anything. They were usually built low down in a Calamus thicket, 

 and very difficult to find." 



Psophodes nigrigularis. " 



WESTERN WHIP-BIRD. 

 Psophodes nigrogularis, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1844, p. 5; id., Bds. Austr., fol., Vol. III., pi. 16 

 (1848); id., Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. I., p. 314 (ISC')); Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mas., 

 Vol. VII., p. 3.31 (1883); North, Vict. Nat, Vol. XVI., p. 11 (1899). 



Psophodes nigrigularis, Sharpe, Haiul-1. Bds., Vol. IV., p. ."> (1903). 



Adult female— General colour above dull yellowish-olive ; upper tvingcoverts like the back; 

 quills dark brown, their outer webs dull yellowish-olive, except those of the outer primaries, which are 

 narrower and indistinctly edged externally with dull yellowish-olive near their base and pale brown 

 ioivards the tips ; upper tail-coverts slightly brighter in colour than the hack; tail feathers dull 

 yellowish olive, the lateral feathers crossed near their extremity jrith a blnckishbroini band and tipped 

 with white; head and nape broivn; lores and a narroiv ring of feathers around the eye dull white; 

 ear-coverts brown with indistinct whitisJi shaft lines ; chin, throat, and centre of tlte fore-neck dull 

 black enclosing a ivhite stripe ivhich extends from the base of the loirer mandible on to the sides of the 

 throat: retnainder of the under surface ashy-brown ; centre of the breast and the abdomen whitish, 

 some of the feathers of the breast mottled with black; sides of the chest, the flanks, and the U7ider tail- 

 coverts brown, slightly washed with yellowish-olive; thighs brown; bill (of skin) dark brown, pale 

 broivn towards the tip of upper mandible and the centre of lower mandible. Total length 7'75 inches, 

 wing 3-J, tail 4:5, bill 08, tarsus 1-05. 



Advlt fem.\LE — Similar to the male, hut having the throat only dull black, and the feathers on 

 the centre of the breast and the abdomen liglit asliy-broivii. 

 Distribution. — Western Australia. 



^T^HIS species was described by Gould in the " Proceedings of the Zoological Society of 

 -L London,"" in 1844, from a single specimen obtained by Gilbert in South-western 

 Australia. Apparently it is still a rare species in European and British collections, for in 

 the "Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum," Dr. Sharpe transcribes Gould's original 

 description. Mr. George Masters, while collecting at King George's Sound on behalf of the 

 Trustees of the .\ustralian Museum, obtained adults of both sexes, from which the above 

 descriptions are taken, also young birds, in September, October, and November, 1868. Mr. 

 Masters informs me that this species inhabits the thickest parts of scrub-lands. Although he 

 procured eight specimens, it is a most difficult bird to shoot, owing to its being excessively 

 shy and wary. When vievved in certain lights, the under surface of the tail feathers exhibit a 

 distinct golden-green sheen. 



Two eggs of this species in Mr. G. A. Keartland's collection, were taken by Mr. J. Harris from 

 a small saucer-shaped nest, built of twigs, and placed in low scrubby undergrowth near Bunbury, 

 in December, 1898. They are indistinguishable from some eggs of its larger eastern representa- 

 tive, Psophodes crepitans. One specimen is oval in form and of a pale bluish-white ground colour, 

 with dots, spots, and small irregular-shaped blotches and dashes scattered over the shell, but 

 more thickly disposed on the larger end, where some of the marks are confluent, and are 



• Proc. Zool. Soc, 1844, p. 5. 



