22 



PACHYCEPIIALIN.E. 



a-en-O-s 



Sub-Family PACHYCEPHALINyE. 

 Pachycephala gutturalis. 



WHITE-THEOATED THICKHEAD. 

 Turdus gutturalis, Lath. Ind. Orn. Suppl. p. xli. (1801). 



Pachycephala gultriralis, Vig. and Horsf., Trans. Linn. Soc, Vol. XV., p. 239 (1820); Sharpe, 

 Hand-1. Bds., Vol. IV., p. 306 (1903). 

 Adult male — General colour above olive-green; band on tlie hind-neck rich yellow slightly 

 washed in the centre with olive-green; lesser wing-coverts black broadly margined witli olive-green ; 

 the median and greater series black externally margined with olive-yellow ; quills black the secondaries 

 broadly margined externally with olive-green, the primarie's narrowly edged with ashy-olive ; basal 

 portion of tail feathers grey washed with olive-green, the apical portion blackish-brown tipped with 

 grey; crown erf the head, nape, a line of feathers below the eye and ear-coverts black; throat white, 

 followed by a black crescentic band on the fore-neck ivhich meets the black feathers on each side of the 

 nape; remainder of under surface and the under tail-coverts rich gamboge-yellow, the sides of the 

 breast slightly washed with olive-green; bill -black; legs and feet dark slaty-grey ; iris dark brown. 

 Total length in the flesh 7 inches, wing o 75, tail 3 3, bill O'JfO, tarsus 0-9. 



Adult female — General colour above greyish-brown, slightly tinged with olive; upper wing- 

 coverts and quills dark brown margined with dull olive; upper tail-coverts olive; tail feathers olive- 

 brown; chin and t/iroat didl greyish-white, indistinctly barred with pale brotvn: chest and breast pale 

 brown, centre of the abdomen dull whitish; under tail-coverts pale yelloiv. 



Distribution — Queensland, New South Wales, Eastern \'ictoria, (Western Victoria ?). 



LTHOUGH I have kept Pachycephala occidcntalis 

 and F. mdanui-a, distinct from the present species, 

 after an e.xamination of a large series of adult males of the 

 yellow-breasted members of this genus, from different 

 parts of the Australian continent, I find that they com- 

 pletely intergrade with P. gutturalis, and I look on both as 

 races of this species. Taking extreme types from the 

 western and northern portions of the continent, one would 

 have no hesitation in pronouncing P. occidcntalis and P. 

 mclamira to be good and distinct species but if specimens 

 are examined from a number of intermediate localities, it 

 will be found that both gradually merge into the original 

 F. gutluralis of Latham, the type of the genus. The same 

 intergradation is also apparent in the females of these 

 races, except in that of P. mclainira. 



Probably the type of P. gutturalis was obtained near 

 Sydney, for Dr. Latham in his original description of the 

 Guttural Thrush, in the Supplement to his "General 

 Synopsis of Birds," remarks, "Inhabits New Holland; 

 not unfrequently seen at Port Jackson in the winter months." The extent of olive-green on the 

 basal portion of the tail feathers of the adult male varies from one half of their length to only a 

 slight wash at their extreme base. In addition to their smaller size, typically the farther north 

 the specimens are procured the richer they are in the gamboge-yellow colour of the under surface 



WHITE-THROATED THICKHEAD. 



