4'24 APPENDIX 



ivitii a siih npical blackish stnak (vnd a. irltilisli tip or luiin/ii), ii-huh if confiii'i/ c/ifjly In ihf iiiiirr 

 tvih : llii: longest coverix murli ildrkrr lliaii /Imgi' jus/ lifloii- Uii> mil. : hill ( of skin) bhu-k ; hya aiul 

 j'fpl britu-iiinh -black. Total leiK/th 9-^:~> iiiclies, tvin;/ .ill, tail 4-'-'< ''J^' ''''• lai-snv I'l . 

 I hsti'ihution. — Western Australia, North-western Australia. 



^i^IIli present species was orif,'inally described by Dr. R. Bowdler-Sharpe in the " Catalogue 

 of Birds in the British Museum," from a single adult male skin, obtained by the late 

 Mr. J. \i. VAsey in North-western Australia. The female may be readily distinguished from 

 that of any other species of Cinclosonia inhabiting Australia, by the almost uniform rich cinnamon- 

 brown colour of the upper and under parts. 



Mr. Chas. G. Gibson, late Assistant Government Geologist of Western Australia, writing 

 me on the i6th January, 1907, remarked: — " I took a nest and set of two eggs of Cinclosonia 

 marfiinatnm in the Mount Ida District, on the 19th August, 1906, and also saw several of these 

 birds in different places in the Black Range District, mostly in twos and threes, but though I 

 tried hard I could not get a specimen for you, as they always get away very quickly in the 

 Mulga thickets, and are very hard to find, as their colour harmonises so well with that of the 

 ground." In July, 1908, however, the Trustees received the skin of an adult female from Mr. 

 Gibson. It was procured the pre\ious month by him at Wiluna, Lake Way, Western Australia, 

 where he was also successful in finding the nest and eggs, and of which he remarked: — "Cinclosonia 

 mnrginatuni is found in Western Australia, north of Latitude 30"^ S., south of this it is replaced by 

 C.castanotuiu. It is fairly common in the central districts north of this, but not so numerous, very 

 shy, and is usually found on stony ridges or stony Hats. This species prefers running to flying, 

 unless flushed suddenly from under a bush in the hot weather, and tlien it flies low and fast, 

 with a wavy flight. It has a plaintive whistling call, which is occasionally uttered when perched 

 on a low limb, usually of a dead tree; this note is very hard to locate when any distance off. 

 The nests are similar to those of other species of Cinclosonia, and two eggs are laid for a sitting. 

 They are placed on stony ground in exposed situations, or under small bushes ; one was under 

 a salt bush six inches high." 



For an opportunity of examining an adult male of this very distinct species, and also an 

 adult female, I am indebted to Mr. Bernard II. Woodward, Director of the Western Australian 

 Museum, Perth, who on the 4th December, 190S, forwarded the above mounted specimens. 

 The male agrees very well with the description given by Dr. R. B. Sharpe of the type, and the 

 female was similar to the specimen previously received by the Trustees from Mr. C. G. Gibson. 

 The nest is an open cup-shaped structure, formed throughout principally of thin strips of 

 dead bark, with which is intermingled a few dried grasses and plant stems. Outwardly it is 

 irregularly constructed, the inner cup measuring three inches and a half in diameter by two 

 inches and a quarter in depth. 



The eggs are two in number for a sitting, varying in shape and size e\ en in the same set. 

 Of those taken at Wiluna, on the 13th June, igo8, one is a slightly swollen oval, the other being 

 more elongated and pointed at the smaller end, the shell being close-grained, smooth and lustrous. 

 They are of a dull white ground colour, over which is distributed numerous freckles, small 

 irregular-shaped spots, and a few larger blurred markings of different shades of brown, inter- 

 mingled with a few underlying spots of dull bluish-grey. In the smaller specimen the markings 

 are slightly more thickly and evenly disposed ; in the other there is a tendency to form an irregular 

 zone at the larger end, many of the markings being penumbral or partially overlying one 

 another. They measure: — Length (A) 1-02 x 077 inches; (B) 1-13 x o-S inches. Another 

 set of two taken by Mr. Gibson on the 19th August, 1906, in the Mount Ida District, are thickly 

 spotted over the entire surface of the shell with different shades of brown and wood-brown, 

 and intermingled with a few underlying markings of pale violet-grey. They measure : — 

 Length (A) i-i8 x o'S inches; (B) i-iy x o-8 inches. 



