CKDIOVOML'S. ]97 



S u I) -order P e d i o n o ai r . 



Family PEDIONOMID^. 



oen-u-s z=EnDio:isron^vd:Tj"3, <;o,d,i 



Pedionomus torquatus. 



COI^LAKIU) PLAIN- WANDERER. 



r''irt(jn<iiii)i,s hirquiifHs, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1840, p. 114 ; H., Hils. Aiistr,, fol. Vol. V., pi. 80 

 (1848); id., Handbk. Bds. Aiistr., Vol. H., p. Is? (ISO.')) ; Gniiit, Cat. Bds. Brit, ftlus., 

 Vol. XXII., p. .^04(1893); Sliarpe, Hand-I. lids., Vol. I., p. 411 (I8i.)9). 



Aduli' .male. — General colour abov broivn, with narroiv ivhil". or wliilij-brown margins to most 

 of the /fathers on the. back and the scapulars, which are uarromh/ barred with sereral blackixli lines 

 Jollo/viufj the outline of the featJu'rs, snuif also of ivhich are shaded u:ith bn/f; upper wing-coverts and 

 innermost secondaries like the back, but liu-rin.g t/ie barrini/s straii/hter across t/ie feathers of the outer 

 seciindaries : retnainder of the quills brownish-black, the outer webs of the outer primaries /luje buff 

 barred with broionish-black ; the apical portion of the inner primaries and outer secondaries pale 

 bujf barred witli blackisli-J>ron:n, and pa.ssiiKj into almost pure white at f lie tips ; centre of lower back 

 blackish, most of the feathers fuely reruticulated with brown at the tips; tail-feathers pale buff y-brown 

 rvith narroiv blackish transverse bars ; crown of head like the upper back, the feathers on the lo?ver 

 portion partially coucealimj the pale rustydniff nape ; collar around the sides of neck and hind-neck 

 finely spotted or narroivly streaked with brownish-black ; lores, feathers above and below the eye, cheeks 

 and ear-coverts dull white, — bujfy-u.:hite on some specimens^finely spotted icitli broiruish-black ; 

 tips of the ear-coverts brouiiish-black : chin and throat white, the sides if the throat and lower throat 

 finely spotted with black ; foreneck, upper breast and sides of the body pale buff or bifl'yirliiti-, irith a 

 brmvnish-blaek crescentic mat-king near the tip of each f'ather, the markings on those of the sides, 

 foreneck and upper breast almost semi-circular, with a small blackish spot in the centre, and passing 

 into a short black bar or rounded s/iot on the centre of the upper breast ; lower sides of /laiiks u:ith 

 Y-shaped brownish black markings ; remainder of under surface dull white slightly tinged with buff ; 

 under tail-coverts pale buff, souie of tlie longer ones witfi a brownish-black spot or small bar near tfie 

 tip: bill yellow, broiru on. the culmen and tip of louer mandible ; legs and feet yejlow : iris pale 

 yellow. Total length in the /lesh 6 inches, icing S^, tail lo'i, bill 0-5, lursus 1. 



Adult female. — Resembles the adult male but is larger, tfie rusty-buff fiue of the featfiers on tfie 

 iiape extend to those on the sides of tfie fiead, opfithalmic region and ear-coverts; a black collar, 

 conspicuously spotted witfi wfiite, surrounds tfie entire neck, and there is a rusty-buff patch on the 

 foreneck ; tfie remainder of tfie foreneck, upper portion of the breast, and sides of the body are of a 

 ricfier buff, and the crescentic and semi-circular markings thereon, are black. Total leugtfi iii tfie Jlesfi 

 7 incfies, wing 4, ImI I'd, bill l->3, tarsus 11. 



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



OF no Australian bird was the proper systematic position so uncertain as in the present 

 species. Gould placed it in the Family Tuknicid.i^,, in which he was followed by most 

 writers, and remarks : — - " It is allied to Turni.x, but differs in having a small hind toe . . . Its 

 general contour suggests the idea cf a diminutive Bustard." In the " Records of the Australian 

 Museum" Dr. Hans Gadow, M.A., Strickland Curator and Lecturer on the advanced Morphology 

 of Vertebrata in the University of Cambridge, consequent upon his examination of two well- 



* Gould, Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol II., pp. 187, 1S8 (1S65). 

 50 



