PO.MATOSTOMUS. 303 



i^iTt LTHOUGH the range of this species extends over the greater portion of Austraha, it 

 JJ \~ appears to be far more abundantly distributed over the southern than the northern 

 half of the continent. I ha\'e never seen specimens in any collection from the Northern Territory 

 of South Australia, or the extreme northern portions of (Queensland. Dr. E. P. Ramsay has 

 recorded it in a collection of birds made at the mouth of the Norman River; neither Dr. \^ . 

 Macgilhxray nor his brother, Mr. A. S. iNIacgillivray, have obser\-ed it in the Cloncurry District, 

 which is about two hundred miles south of the shores of the Gulf ot Carpentaria. It is not 

 uncommon in some parts of south-western Queensland, and it occurs in favourable situations 

 throughout western and central New South Wales, north-western \'ictoria. South Australia, 

 and Western Australia. In the latter State, Mr. George Wasters obtained specimens at Salt 

 Ri\ er, Mr. Edwin Ashby found it common at Callion, and Mr. Tom Carter informs me that 

 he has observed it in the neighbourhood of the Gascoyne Ri\er as far north as the North-west 

 Cape. Mr. G. A. Keartland noted it breeding near Cue in June, 1896, and again at the 

 Fitzroy and Margaret Ri\ers, in North-western Australia, in February, i.Sgy. It is remarkable 

 that neither of the large collections made by Mr. E. J. Cairn and the late Mr. T. H. Howver- 

 Bower, in the neighbourhood of Derby, contained an example of this species. 



The wing-measurement of adults varies in length from j to 3'4 inches. Some specimens, 

 probably \ery old birds, from Ivanhoe and Dubbo, New South \\'ales, ha\e the feathers on the 

 crown of the head distinctly darker than those on the back; the ear-coverts and central tail 

 feathers, too, are darker than in specimens procured by Mr. Masters at Port Lincoln in South 

 Australia. 



In New South Wales it is more abundantly distributed in the western and central 

 portions of the State, its range extending eastwards on to the Dividing Range, but it is 

 never seen in the coastal districts. On the Bell and Macquarie Rivers, in August, 1887, in 

 companv with Dr. Ramsay, we observed these birds busily engaged in forming their large 

 stick and twig nests, botli in pines and gums, but it was far less numerous than its congener, 

 Pomatodomns temporalis. I found the latter species common on the Namoi and Gwydir Rivers, 

 in north-western New South \\ales, but I did not meet with P. siipcrciUosus, although Gould 

 observed it further south on the Liverpool Plains. At Wattagoona Station, near Louth, on 

 the Darling River, Mr. Edward Lord Ramsay found it breeding in 1890, chiefly in leopard 

 and box-trees, and obtained fresh eggs from the 3rd August to the 14th October. 



From ISroken lIiU, in SDUth-western New South Wales, Dr. W. Macgilli\'ray writes me: — 

 " Pomatostomus supcrciliosHs is abundant along all the creeks in this district. Their nests are 

 common amongst the prickly acacia bushes which grow in clumps in some places near the 

 creeks. I first noted a nest with fresh eggs on the 9th June, 1901, and, on the 23rd, took two 

 eggs, and fourteen days later, three more from the same nest. Eggs were fairly common 

 throughout July and August, but most voung birds had flown before the end of October." 



Dr. A. M. Morgan, who made a trip with Dr. A. Chenery to .\rcoona. about one hundred 

 and forty miles to the north-west of Port Augusta, in July and August, 1900, writes me: — 

 " Pomatostomus superciliosus was very common, and hundreds of nests were observed in all stages 

 of erection and decay. At Mount Gunson, on the 29th July we examined two nests built in 

 mulga, each of which contained three fresh eggs; also another, built in the brush wall of an 

 outhouse, in which one egg had been deposited. The following day we found another with two 

 fresh eggs, and on the 6th August one with three incubated eggs. On the loth August, at 

 Elizabeth Creek, we examined several nests, all of which contained eggs in various stages of 

 incubation; also another at Yultacowie Creek the following day with three incubated eggs. In 

 all the nests we examined never more than three eggs were found in one nest. The old 

 structures were taken possession of by Collyriocincla hannonka, Orcoica cristaia, and Avtamus 

 cinereus, as a base for their nests." Again, Dr. Morgan writing of their trip to the Gawler 



