MELITHREPTUS. 181 



of Australia," are somewhat exaggerated, especially in the figure of the immature bird, which is 

 represented with the upper wing-coverts almost entirely black, the throats of both birds also 

 being shown as black. The preceding descriptions are taken from specimens collected by Mr. A. 

 Morton, in February 1879, at Port Essington, on behalf of the Trustees of the Australian Museum. 

 There are also examples in the collection obtained from other parts of the Northern Territory of 

 South Australia in 1870. 



Gould refers to this species being smaller than Entoinyza cyanotis, but the wing measurement 

 given in his "Handbook to the Birds of Australia," 6 inches, equals that of average examples of 

 the southern species. Comparing the specimens obtained by Mr. Morton at Port Essington 

 with examples of E. cyanotis obtained in Southern Queensland and Northern New South Wales, 

 the wing-measurement is alike, 5-8 inches. 



Two eggs of E. albipcnnis, taken at Port Essington, are of a rich fleshy-buff ground colour 

 which is spotted and blotched with purplish-red, reddish-brown and underlying markings of dark 

 bluish-grey: — Length (A) ri x 0^87 inches; (B) 1-22 x o"g inches. 



Melithreptus atricapillus. 



LUNULATED HONEY-EATER. 

 Certhia atricapilla, Lath., Ind. Orn. Suppl. p. xxxvii, (1801). 

 Certhia lunulata, Shaw, Gen. Zool, Vol. VIII., p. 224, (1817). 

 Melitltreptus lunulatus, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol., Vol. IV., pi. 72 (1848); id., Handbk. Bds., Vol. I., 



p. .568 (18(35); Gadow, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mas. Vol. IX., p 204 (1884). 

 Melithreptus africapillns, North, Ibis, 190G, p. .5.5. 



Adult male — General colour above yellowish-olive ; upper wing-coverts and quills dark brown 

 externally margined ivith yellowish-olive, the lesser and median coverts with a dusky-grey wash, the 

 apical portion of the outermost primaries narrowly edged externally with as/iy-white ; forehead, crown 

 of the head and upper portion of the hind neck, feathers at the base of the lower mandible, cheeks and 

 ear-coverts black, a lunulate band on the occiput white; all the under surface white: a small patch of 

 feathers at each side of tJie fore neck black; under tail-coverts white ; bill black: legs and feet broivnish- 

 flesh colour; bare space above and behind the eye rich orange-scarlet : iris dark broivn. Total length iii 

 thejiesh fro inches, wing 4, tail :?-^, bill OS, tarsus 0-7. 



Adult female — Simihir in jthuninje to th'> imd,- liii/ .iligh/li/ siiialh'r. Wing JS inches. 



Distribution — New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia. 

 ^^V HAW'S specific name of "lunulatus," in use for the well-known Melithreptus of South-eastern 

 V — 7 Australia, must give way to Latham's older name "atricapillus." The Certhia atricapilla 

 of Latham's "Index Ornithologicus" is founded on the Black-headed Creeper of his "General 

 Synopsis of Birds," which he states inhabits New South Wales. It is accurately described, 

 except that Latham omits to make any reference to the crescent-shaped white mark on the back of 

 the head. Shaw's description of Certhia lunulata, published in 1817 in his "General Zoology,"J is 

 applicable to the young of Melithreptus atricapillus, "the back, wings, and tail" being described as 

 "cinnamon-brown." Temminck in his "Planche Coloriees"5 figures it as Meliphaga atricapilla, 



* Ind. Orn., p. xxxvii (iSoi), f Gen. Syn. Bds., Suppl. ii , p. 167. 

 ; Gen. Zool. Vol. VIII., p. 224, (1S17). 

 § PI. Col., pi. 335, fig. i. (1S38). 



