■144 APPENDIX. 



Youri^,' birds resemble the adults, but are duller in colour and have the crown of the head 

 ^teen, as is the general colour of the upper parts and a less amount of blue on the winys and 

 tail-feathers ; on the forehead a dull red frontal band, a less amount of yellow on the cheeks and 

 sides of the neck, the fore-neck and breast very pale cinnabar-brown, the lower portion of the 

 breast and abdomen washed with violet-blue ; lower Hanks and under tail-co\erts red with screen 

 bases. Wing 5-7 inches. There is a young bird in the Australian Museum Collection exhibiting 

 a strong tendency to xanthochroism in the greater upper wing-coverts, secondaries and central 

 tail-feathers, and to albinism in the primaries, and also to a less extent in the lateral tail- 

 feathers. 



Catheturus purpureicollis. 



BARNARD'S BRUSH TURKEV. 



Tahgulliis piirpureiciilliis^ Le Souef, Ibis, 1898, p. 51. 



Cathflnnis /inr/inri'icul/is, Sliiirpe, Hanil-1 Bds., Vol. I., p. 14 (18'.)'J). 



Adult MALK. — U/>/iir snyfu.ci' /ilarkisli-bruivn, tin' tiiil Ifiui/ (diiiost black: (•'athern of the Jimler 

 surface hlackisli-tiriiirii tifjieil k'iIIi lii/ht ijccij : head atid }ip]>er purl inn of tlie neck red : lower portion 

 iif the iteck, /villi, /vattlen, /chitisli/mrple ; iris /if/lit brunui, almost irhite ; bill black; leys and Jeet 

 dark hroirn. Total lenytli :.'9 inches, winij 10. 



Adult female. — Similar in plumac/e to the innle, hut sliyhtli/ smaller, the head and neck not so 

 hriijhl ill colour aiid destitute of /rattles.* 



Distribntion. — Cape York Peninsula, Northern (Queensland. 



Or" this northern form of CiUhetiniis laihami Dr. W. Macgillivray, of Broken Hill, has 

 favoured me with the following notes: — "When staying at Somerset, Cape York 

 Peninsula, early in November, igio, in company with Dr. Dobbyn and Mr. W. McLennan, 

 CntJiiinrus pnvpnfficoUis was frequently met with in the surrounding scrubs, and its mounds still 

 more frequently. None of these were of any great size, not inore than four or five feet in height 

 and ten to twelve feet in diameter at the base, and composed of sand, leaves and other decom- 

 posing vegetable matter. None of the mounds contained eggs, laying not commencing until 

 the tropical wet season has set in. Wild pigs, which abound here, had been rooting at several 

 of the mounds in search of eggs, and are responsible for the destruction of a large number. 

 When disturbed tliis species flies high up on to a tree, but is more wary of approach than the 

 Megapode; it makes a much better dish than the latter. Mr. McLennan wrote from Cape 

 York under date loth December, lyio: — ' I dug out a mound of Culhctiinis pinfiini'iollis on the 

 bank of a creek ; it contained two fresh eggs. Visited the mound again in the afternoon ; the 

 birds had repaired it. On the following day I dug out three more Turkey mounds, but did not 

 find any eggs.' " 



The eggs vary from oval, some specimens being much tlattened on the larger end, to a 

 nearly true ellipse in form, the shell, when examined with a lens, being very finely granulate, 

 pure white, except where mound-stained, and lustreless. Nine eggs in Mr. Thos. P. Austin's 

 collection, taken by the late Mr. H. Elgner, at Cape York, Northern Queensland, on the 25th 

 December, igo6, measure as follows : — Length (A) 3-19 x 2-15 inches; (B) 3-22 x 2'i3 inches; 



(C) 3-61 X 2-27 inches; (D) 3-7 x 2-43 inches; (E) 3-57 x 2-38 inches; (F) y6 x 2-42 inches; 

 (G) 3-6i X 2-37 inches; (H) 3-48 x 2-36 inches; (I) 3'58 x 2-41 inches. Four eggs in Dr. \V. 

 Macgillivray's collection, taken by Mr. W. McLennan on the 25th February, 1912, at Paira, 

 measure; — Length (.A) 3-52 x 2-37 inches; (B) 3^42 x 2^37 inches; (C) 3-62 x 2-35 inches; 



(D) 3-49 X 2'35 inches. 



* Le Souef, Ibis, 1S9S, p. 51. 



