104 MKLIPIIArnO.E. 



Acanthorhynchus dubius, 



TASMANIAN SPINE-HI [J,r: D HON'KV-KATKll. 

 Acant/iorli!/7ir/n,s duhius, Uould, Proo. Zool. Soc, 1837, p. '25 ; North, Fioc. Linn. .Soc. N.S.W., 'ImX 

 Ser, Vol. II., |.. lO.s (1SS7). 

 Adult mai.k- A//,- ih,- mhi}! nmlr uf Acwtiiohiiynchus srPRRCiLiosus, Latli.-mi, hiii .ii,i<ill''r, 

 thi'. pliiiiKKjr (if till- li'ir.l.: ,;-(ili;- ,i/ til mill , ,i,iil ihr l,n,i.sl disHncfli/ darker and rirhrr in i;,l<,itr. Tohtl 

 trtnjih ■', inrlirs, ininj ,.':',, lad .':.', hdl fl-'.l, hirsus OC-'j. 



Adui.t kkm.M.K- D'ljl'rr'i hi <i sinidur iiimiin'r/niiii llir iiiair, us dni'.i tln'/niiiilr of A. tenUIUU.stkis. 

 Wnnj ,.'•;.'.; nirliis. 



Z)(«(!ri/;«i'o)t— Tasmania. 

 /■f^IIERl': are speciiiuiiis in the Australian Museum collection of this form obtained by Mr. 

 -L G. Masters at Mount Wellington and Brown River, Tasmania. I have also examined 

 others in the Macleay Museum at the University of Sydney. It is a close ally of Acanthorhynchus 

 tenuii'ostns but typically may be distinguished by its smaller size and darker plumage. 



Dr. Lonsdale Hoklen sends me the following notes:— "The Spine-bill is generally 

 distributed in Tasmania. 1 liave seen this bird catching flies in my garden as fearlessly and 

 industriously as Rhipichini ilicmcjicinis, I have also seen it frequenting a garden in the centre of 

 Hobart. The only nest of this species 1 ever came across was in a tree on the bank of a river 

 in uninhabited country. Sandstone rocks and little cliffs border the stream atone angle of its 

 course, and the rock is water and weather worn into ledges and small caves. In front of one 

 cave a bo.\ tree hung its branches in a thin veil. In this veil and suspended by the rim was a 

 deep cup-shaped nest compactly and solidly formed externally of moss-like green lichens collected 

 from some dead branches of the box tree. The cock bird was sitting. Stretching with difficulty 

 from the rock, I disturbed him, and reached my finger to touch the eggs, when the hen bird 

 fluttered into the box tree and sat within a few inches of my face. The nest was clearly visible 

 from the cave, but by no means so from the river. I once saw a Spine-bill with the outer tail- 

 feathers entirely white instead of only tipped with white." 



The e""s are not to be distinguished from those of the continental form .1. IciNiiivslris. Two 

 eggs in the Australian Museum collection taken near Hobart, in October 1885, are of a pale bufif 

 ground colour, passing into a faint reddish-buff on the larger end, and have small spots and 

 irre'^ular markings of deep chestnut-brown scattered over the larger end, where are intermingled 

 a few underlying markings of pale bluish-grey. Length (A) 073 x 0-53 inches; (B) 075 x 

 o'54 inches. 



Acanthorhynchus superciliosus. 



WESTEKN .SPlNE-IilLLED UONEY-EATEU. 



Acanthorhynchns supi-rciliosuK, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1837, p. 2 f ; id., Ikls. Au.str, fol., Vol. TV., 



pi. 62 {1848); id., Handbk. Pds. Aust., Vol. T., p. 5.i3 (ISG.-)); Gadow, Cat. Eds. Prit. Mus. 



Vol. IX., p 145 (1884). 



Adult MALR—(rV//./v^-' r,l„iir .i/r.n- ,,rn-rJ,n„rii: upper wlmj-ci>Vfrts and ijiidls I, mini, ihr 



latter nnrrowly edijed mid .«„„-■ -;/' //,-• mrduiii mid i/rni/ir coverts indistinct 1 1/ niiin/iii'd ir'ith <ii;iiish^ 



olive; tnil feather.t dnrh- linnrii, tin' three outermost on either side hinji/i/ ti/i/ed intli irlnte. mid 



more or less edited with limini mi their outer wehs, e.ccept on the rent nil portion of thr oiilermoxt : 



forehead mid crown of the head like the hurl; hut of n more decided shmle of linnrii ; feathers in front 



