PACHYCEPIIALA. 31 



hand towards them. They had the upper parts greyish-brown with dull rufous margins to most 

 of the feathers, and the under surface white broadly streaked with smoky-brown; on each side of 

 the crown of the head was a tuft of dusky-grey down. In young females, the last traces of 

 immaturity are exhibited in the narrow rufous margins to the upper wmg-coverts, scapulars and 

 some of the feathers on the back. 



Mr. George Savidge found a nest of this species at Copmanhurst, on the 26th October, 1896, 

 containing three eggs, also an egg of the Pallid Cuckoo. In Goodlet's Bush near Ashfield, on 

 the i2th December, i8g6, I saw a nest of this species in a Eucalyptus in which the female was 

 engaged in feeding a nearly lledged PalHd Cuckoo. 



Pachycephala falcata. 



LUNATED THICKHEAD. 

 Pachycephala falcata, Gould, Proe. Zool. Soc, 1842, p. 134; id., Bds. Austr., fol., Vol. II., pi. G8 

 (1848); id., Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. I., p. 213 (186.5); Gadow, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., 

 Vol. VIII,, p. 205 (1883) ; Sharpe, Hand-1., Bds., Vol. IV,, p. 307 (1903). 



Adult male — General colour above yrey, diyhtly paler on the rump and upper tail-corerts; 

 lesser iving-coverts like the hack, the median and greater coverts, and quills brown margined externally 

 with ashy-grey; head grey ivith indistinct dark brown centres; lores and feathers beloiv the eye dusky- 

 grey ; chin and throat white, followed by a narrow crescentic black band on the fore-neck ; remairider 

 of the under surface fawn colour ; under tail-coverts pale faivn colour; bill (of skin) black; legs and 

 feel broivn. Total length B'75 indies, wing S'^, tail 2 6, bill O'^S, tarsus O'S. 



Adult female — General colour above light brownish-grey, the rump and upper tail-coverts being 

 of a slightly clearer grey ; upper luing-coverts like the back, thegreater series tvith brown centres; quills 

 hrown. the outer ivebs of the primarieb' edged, and those oj the secondaries margined with ashy-grey ; 

 tail feathers brown, narroivly edged with dull ashy grey ; lores dull w/iitish: feathers beloiv the eye 

 and the ear-coverts brown; chiti and upper throat white; sides of the breast fawn colour ; remainder 

 of the under surface and under tail-coverts white, slightly tinged ivith fawn colour, the feathers on the 

 fore-neck and upper breast with a tiarrow streak of didl blackish-brown doivn the centre. 



Distribution — North-western Australia, Nothern Territory of South Australia, Northern 

 Queensland. 



^~|^HE range of the Lunated Thickhead, a close ally oi Pachycephala nifivcntris, e.xtends from 

 J- the neighbourhood of the Herbert River, Queensland, throughout the coastal districts 

 of the northern portion of that State, to the Northern Territory of South Australia, and 

 North-western .Vustralia. There are numerous specimens in the Australian ^Museum collection, 

 procured principally by Messrs. E. J. Cairn and Robt. Grant, near Cairns, Queensland, by Mr. 

 A. Morton at Port Darwin and Port Essington, and by the late Mr. T. H. Bowyer Bower and Mr. 

 E. J. Cairn in the neighbourhood of Derby, North-western Australia. I have also received 

 from Mr. C. French, Junr., its nest and eggs taken near the Daly River in the Northern Territory 

 of South Australia. Gould regarded P. falcata as the northern representative of P. nifivcntris, 

 but in the report of the " \'oyage of H.M.S. Alert," Dr. Sharpe records two examples of the 

 latter species from Port Darwin. 



Some adult males have the lores, feathers below the eye and the ear-coverts, much darker 

 than others; also those on the breast, and the crescentic band on the fore-neck is narrower in 

 the Derby than in the Port Essington specimens. Adult females procured near Cairns, North- 

 eastern Queensland, have the upper parts of a clearer grey than others obtained at Derby, North- 

 western Australia; and the under surface of examples from both localities, varies considerably 

 in the depth of the fawn coloured wash and the width and extent of the dark brown central streaks. 



