CLIMACTEUIS. 49 



the hollow part of a dead branch, generally so far down that it is almost impossible to reach it, 

 and it is therefore very difficult to find. I discovered one by seeing the old birds beating away 

 a Wattle-bird that tried to perch near their hole. The nest in this instance was fortunately 

 within arm's length, it contained three eggs of a pale salmon-colour thickly blotched all over 

 with reddish -brown, ele\en lines long by eight and a half lines broad, this occurred during the 

 first week in October." 



Climacteris erythrops. 



RED-EYEBROWED TREE-CREEPER. 



Climacteris erythrops, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, lt>40, p. 14« ; id., Bds. Austr., fok. Vol. IV., pi. 95 

 (1848); id, Handbk. Bds. Austr, Vol. I., p. 602 (1865); Gadow, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. 

 Vlir., p. .338 (1883); Sharpe, Hand-1. Bds., Vol. IV., p. 357 (1903). 

 Adult male — Forfhead, crotvn of tlie head, ceiitre of tlte nape and liind neck blackish broun, the 

 feathers on tlie foreliead and sinciput witlt dusky-grey margins: mantle and upper hack earf/i brown; 

 lower back, rnmp and upper tail-coverts dark grey: upper iving-coverts like the back, the outermost 

 feathers of the greater series blackish-brown except at the tips; primary-coverts blackish-brown ; quil/s 

 brown at the base all but the three outermost primaries and the two innermost secondaries crossed in 

 the centre with a band of pale greyish-buff, succeeded by a subterminal band of blackish-brown : the 

 innermost secondaries ivaslied with grey ; two central tail feathers dark grey, the remainder dark 

 grey paler at the tips and crossed with a broad subterminal band of blackish-brown, increasing 

 in width towards the' outermost feather, iMch is entirely blackish-brown except at the tip; lores, a 

 broad superciliary stripe, and the feathers beloiv the eye rusty-red; sides of the neck dark grey ; chin 

 and throat dull white, passing into light greyish-brown on the fore neck; remainder of the under 

 surface greyish-broivn, the apical portion of each feather having a broad didl white stripe down the 

 centre bordered on either side witJi a narrow line of black; centre of the abdomen buff', each feather 

 indistinctly streaked tvitli ivhite and having the remains of the black lines, form.ing spots or broken 

 cross-bars; under tail-coverts bvjfy-white with blackish brown cross-bars broken in the centre by a 

 narrow shaft line; bill black: legs andfeft brownish-blach: iris broicn. Total length U inches, iiing 

 3-4, tail 2-6, bill 068, tarsus OS. 



Adult fem.\le — -Diffrrs from the male in having the lores, suprrciliary stripe and feathers below 

 the eye richer in colour, and the feat/irrs on tite fore neck rusty-rrd with a broad stripe of dull ivliite 

 down the centrf. 



Distributioyt — New South Wales and Victoria. 

 CFV O far as I can learn, from the specimens in the Australian Museum collection, and Macleay 

 V,—? Museum collection at the University of Sydney, the habitat of the Red-eyebrowed Tree- 

 creeper is the most restricted of the genus. New South Wales is undoubtedly its stronghold, 

 its range extending south to Victoria, and probably to the adjoining eastern portions of South 

 Australia, but I have never seen a specimen from the latter State. Under the name oi Climacteris 

 erythrops specimens have reached me for examination from Northern and Southern Queensland, 

 South Australia, and Western Australia, but in every instance they proved to be Climacteris 

 superciliosa ; a closely allied species. I have not the slightest doubt too the birds referred to by 

 Mr. Keartland, obtained bv the Calvert Exploring Expedition near Cue, in Western Australia, 

 were females of C. superciliosa. A specimen of C. erythrops from any part of Queensland has never 

 come under my notice, but a skin received in exchange from the Queensland Museum under 

 that name and obtained by Mr. Kendal Broadbent, at Charleville on the Warrego River in South- 

 western Queensland, is a female of C. superciliosa. Although these two species are quite distinct, 



