CLIMACTERIS. 45 



slightly tinged with creamy-buff, ivhich becomes more pronounced on the centre of the breast and 

 abdomen; feathers on the sides of the breast and flanks olive-brown with a broad stripe of dull white 

 down the centre, bordered with dull blackish-brown; xmder tail-coverts ivhite with several bhickish- 

 broivn cross-bars, broken in the centre and having a narrow white shaft line; bill black, base of 

 thi' hirer mandible pearl-grey; legs and feet greyish-black : iris blackish -brown. Total length in 

 the flesh 60 inches, wing So tail ii:5, bill 0-75, tarsus OSS. 



Adult female — Similar in plumage to the male, but distinguislted by having a conspicuous 

 orange-red spot just below the ear-coverts. 



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

 gf\N favourable situations the White-throated Tree-creeper is distributed over southern 

 -L Queensland, the greater portions of New South Wales and \'ictoria, and some parts 

 of South Australia. It is equally as numerous as the preceding species in the neighbourhood 

 of Sydney, and which it closely resembles in habits and the manner of obtaining its food. 

 Preference is shown by this Tree-creeper for the smooth barked species oi Eucalyptus a.ndAngophora, 

 and it frequents trees growing quite close to the coast. The Brown Tree-Creeper although 

 occasionally found in a similar situation, is more abundantly distributed on the rough barked 

 open forest lands a few miles inland. The White-throated Tree-creeper has a curious habit after 

 alighting at the base of a tree of throwing the head well back and remaining motionless for a few 

 seconds before commencing to ascend the tree. It utters a shrill "pink, pink, pink," varied by 

 a succession of other notes. I had in captivity a male Satin Bower-bird which could imitate the 

 former notes of this species to perfection. 



There is but little variation in many specimens in the Australian Museum collection 

 obtained in various parts of New South Wales, those procured in the cold mountainous districts 

 near Cooma, being slightly larger than specimens taken near Sydney, a specimen obtained at 

 Mount Lofty near Adelaide being slightly larger than the Cooma specimens. Examples received 

 on loan from Mr. Edwin Ashby, procured at the Black Spur, and in the Ballarat District, 

 Victoria, also a specimen received on loan from the Trustees of the South Australian Museum 

 obtained twelve miles west of Port \'ictor, South Australia, are of average measurements. 



In the "Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum,"" Dr. Gadow refers to a north-eastern 

 race " obtained near Moreton Bay, Queensland, with a well pronounced pale grey collar across the 

 fore neck," and of slightly smaller dimensions. These characters are more strongly emphasised 

 in specimens obtained by the late Mr. T. H. Bowyer Bower, at Scrubby Creek, near Herberton, 

 and by Messrs. Cairn and Grant at Boar Pocket near Cairns. In his " Tabular List of 

 Australian Birds," Dr. Ramsay in 1888, separated this smaller northern form, under the name 

 of Cliniacteris leucophcea minor.'i: This smaller species, which has the chin and upper throat only 

 white, with a pale grey or greyish-brown band across the chest, Mr. R. Grant informs me, 

 frequents the thick scrubs only and is not found in open forest lands. More recently Dr. 

 Reichenow has also described an apparently similar specimen \ under the name oi Climacteris weiskei, 

 which he stated was allied to Climacteris pyvvhonota. As is well known to Australian ornithologists, 

 and has been for many years past, the latter is only the immature plumage of the present species.!] 



For the purpose of breeding the White-throated Tree-creeper selects a hole in a decaying 

 limb of a tree or a hollow spout, and the eggs are deposited in an open nest of hair or fur. At 

 Mount Lofty near Adelaide, Mr. W. White used to obtain the eggs of this species by nailing up 

 a number of hollow limbs in the trees surrounding his house, one or more of which would be quickly 

 tenanted in the breeding season by a pair of these birds. Mr. White forwarded me an egg 



• Cat Bds. Brit. Mus , Vol. VIII., p. 337 (1883). 

 t Tab. List Austr. Bds., Addenda, p. 2 (1888). 

 } Orn, Monatsb., VIII , p. 187, (1900 ) 

 II Tab. List Austr. Bds., Note opp. p. 15 (1S8S ) 



