CLIMACTEKIS. 47 



niaryins; remainder uj tlie unthr siirface ferrugiiious-browii,, pnssini/ into broivitish-black on tlie sides 

 oj the lower breast and flanks ; under tail-coverts brownisli-black, some of the longer J eatlters irregularly 

 barred or streaked with ivhiie at the tips; bill (of skin) brownish-black ; legs and feet brownish-black. 

 Total lengtli 60 inches, wing 3'9, tail 3, bill O'ii, tarsus 1. 



Adult female — Similar in plumage to the adult male but having the chin and throat pure 

 white, and tht feathers of the lower tltroat broadly margined with reddisli-brorvn. 



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

 Queensland. 



/~|^HE range of the Black-tailed Tree-creeper is principally over the northern and north- 

 -L western portion of the continent. There are a number of skins in the Australian Museum 

 collection, obtained by Mr. A. Morton at Port Darwin and Port Essington, in the Northern 

 Territory of South Australia, one procured by the first successful Transcontinental Expedition 

 under the leadership of the late ^Ir. John McDouall Stuart; specimens from Derby, North- 

 western Australia, obtained by Mr. E. |. Cairn and by the late Mr. T. H. Bowyer Bower. I also 

 received for examination seven specimens procured by Mr. G. A. Keartland in 1896-7, at the 

 junction of the Fitzroy and Margaret Rivers in the same district, while a member of the 

 Calvert Exploring Expedition, and who sent me the following information: — "The loud notes 

 of CUmacteris melanura were frequently heard along the course of the Fitzroy River, from its 

 junction with the Margaret River right into Derby. The birds are very shy and difficult to 

 approach; in other respects their habits are much like those of the Brown Tree-creeper, and 

 their nests are usually found in the hollow branches of the larger Eucalypti." In Eastern 

 Australia it occurs at the Gulf of Carpentaria, and two hundred miles farther south it was met 

 with by Dr. W. Macgillivray at Cloncurry, who writes me: — "CUmacteris melanuva is found 

 mostly in timbered country about Cloncurry, and in stony country towards the ranges, but is not 

 seen in districts far east of the township." 



I have never seen a specimen procured in New South Wales, although Dr. Ramsay in his 

 "Tabular List of Australian Birds," records this State in its habitat. 1 have also described eggs 

 of this species taken by Mr. James Ramsay at Tyndarie, on the loth September, 1880. Dr. Ramsay 

 has suggested that the birds were probably driven south during a period of drought and remained 

 to breed. .\ parallel instance is afforded by Entomophila picta, previously regarded as a strictly 

 inland species, but which has been found breeding at Five Dock near Sydney, and within a few 

 miles of the coast. 



The eggs taken by Mr. James Ramsay at Tyndarie, are two in number, of a light reddish- 

 ground colour, which is almost obscured by heavy longitudinal blotches of rich reddish-brown, 

 and a few nearly obsolete spots of lilac. Length (.\) 0-9 x 079 inches; (B) o-8g x 073 inches. 

 Two eggs in Dr. W. Macgillivray's collection, taken in the Cloncurry District, Northern 

 Queensland, are ovoid in form, the shell being close-grained, smooth and lustrous. They are of 

 a faint reddish-white ground colour, which is almost obscured, particularly on one specimen, 

 with numerous freckles, irregular-shaped spots and blotches of varied shades of reddish-brown 

 and purplish-red, intermingled with similar formed but fewer underlying markings of violet-grey, 

 all predominating as usual towards the thicker end, where is indicated on the heavily-marked 

 specimen an ill-defined zone. Length (A) 0-98 x 072 inches; (B) 0-96 x 072 inches. 



Immature males are brownish-black above and below, with narrow white streaks to the 

 feathers on the throat ; fore neck and centre of the upper breast ferruginous-brown ; under tail- 

 coverts blackish-brown with subterminal spots of white. Wing 3-3 inches. 



