CLIMACTKKIS. 43 



b/acA-u/i: '« broad supercilary stripe, fmthers belo/r thr eye and the ear-cocerts fami colour, the apical 

 portion of some of the latter with dark broicn margins; chin, cheeks and upper throat pale buff, the 

 apical portion of the feathers at the base of the latter spotted icith blackish-bronm ; a broad band across 

 the fore neck and chest greyisli-brown; remainder of the under surface bufty-brown passing into a clear 

 buff on the flanks, each feather with a broad dull white central stripe bordered on either side with a 

 narrow lineof black: under tail-coverts dull irhife, margined irith rich buff and conspicuously barred 

 tvith blackish-brown: bill greyish-black : legs and feet dusky-grey; iris blackish-brown. Total length 

 in the ffesli 7J indies, iriug SS, tail 2-7, bill 65, tarsus 0-9. 



Adult fk^iale- Differs in phi mag" from th,' malf in having the tips of the feathers at the base 

 of the upper throat margined at tin- sidea untli dull chestnut. 



Distribution — Queensland, New South Wales, \'ictoria, South Australia. 

 /-f^ElMMINCK figured and described this species in his " Planche Coloriees,"- also on the 

 J- same plate figured another well known Australian Tx&e-cveeYitx, Climaderis scandens. As 

 I pointed out in 1896,1 Gould in his folio edition of the "Birds of Australia," and also in his 

 "Handbook," unfortunately transposed these specific names. The birds figured by Gould under 

 the name of Chmadcns scaiidens, and vernacularly as the Brown Tree-creeper, are in reality the 

 true C. piciiiiniiis of Teniminck, the present species. 



The Brown Tree-creeper is freely dispersed over southern Queensland, nearly the whole of 

 New South Wales, Victoria, and some parts of South Australia. It evinces decided preference 

 for sparsely timbered forest lands, with open grassy glades, and partial clearings in mountain 

 ranges, situations favourable for procuring an abundant supply of insects and their larvK, 

 which constitute its food. In the coastal districts this Tree-creeper is met with singly, or in 

 pairs, traversing the perpendicular trunks of the large Eucalypti with the greatest ease, and 

 occasionally engaged in searching for small beetles, spiders, and ants on the grassy sward beneath 

 some wide spreading tree. As a rule it commences at the base of a large tree trunk, and working 

 quickly round in spiral curves, or in a zig-zag manner, soon reaches the larger branches, and 

 after subjecting them to a hurried examination, flies off, and commences similar operations again 

 at the foot of another tree. Although it runs over the trunk of a tree with wonderful speed, it 

 stops ever and anon to pry into the nooks and crevices of the roughened bark, and among others, 

 many a wood-borer or timber destroying insect is captured. The undoubted good this, and all 

 other species of the genus do in ridding our valuable timber trees of many injurious insect 

 pests should ensure for them absolute protection. 



The late Mr. K. H. Bennett writing from :\Iossgiel, New South Wales, remarked:— 

 " The Brown Tree-creeper is an extremely common bird in some localities in this district, but 

 only where large gum or box trees abound, such as the banks of rivers, and which appear 

 essential to its existence. In the timbered back country it is exclusively confined to the box 

 clumps dotted here and there, and is never found in the surrounding forest of Cnsiianim. Myopoyiim, 

 and other trees, its place being there taken by CUiimctcris ajthrops." 



Mr. George Savidge sends me the following note from Copmanhurst, Clarence River:— 

 "On the 25th October, 1896, I saw a Brown Tree-creeper dart from a stump and capture a 

 passing insect, after the manner of the Flycatchers, and then return to the stump. It is evident 

 therefore that this species obtains some of its food on the wing." 



Mr. E. H. Lane writes me :— "Although the Brown Tree-creeper is very common m the 

 Dubbo District, its nesting place is not so easily found. This is owing to the habit of the bird 

 prying into almost every hollow that comes in its way, thus misleading one and causing many 

 fruitless climbs, unless one sees it carrying building material for its nest. I have found several 



* PI. Col., 281, fig. I. 

 t Town and Counlry Journal. Sydney, October 24th, 1896. 



