284 



PLOCEID.E. 



Young birds are brown above, including the head ; rump, fulvous; upper tail-coverts, straw 

 colour ; throat, dull ashy-white ; fore neck and chest, fulvous-brown ; remainder of the under 

 surface white with a fulvous-brown wash, which is more pronounced on the under tail-coverts. 

 The wing nearly equals that of the adult, 2-i inches. 



Immature birds resemble the adult, but are duller in colour, most of the feathers on the 

 upper parts, including the head, having ashy-white margins ; throat ashy-white, some of the 

 feathers with black tips ; fore neck pale cinnamon, the succeeding black band broken and ill- 

 defined, and much higher up the body than in the adult ; remainder of the under surface dull 

 white, w'ith a faint fulvous wash ; some of the longest under tail-coverts blackish. Wmg 

 measurement the same as young, 2-i inches. 



In some seasons nidification commences as early as October, but during my visit to the 

 Upper Clarence, in November, 1898, this species had not started to build, nests with eggs being 

 more common during the following January, February and March, and some nests had fresh 

 eggs as late as the end of April. Normally, in this district, the breeding season commences 

 at the end of October, and lasts until the end of March, but Mr. Savidge says nests may be 

 found throughout the year. 



Munia xanthoprymna. 



YELLOW-KUMPEt) FINCH 

 Dunacola jiaviprymiia, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 184-5, p. 80 ( ro.i' )iyhrida); id., Bds. Aiist., fol. 



Vol. III., pi. 96 (1848). 

 Munia fiaviprymna, Gould, Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. I., p. 428 (1865): Sliarpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. 

 Mus, Vol. XIII., p. 346 (1890); North, Pioc. Linn. Soc. N.S.Wales, Vol. XXIX , p. 

 130 (1904). 

 Munia xanthoprymna, Mathews, Hand-1. Bds. Austr , p. 102 (1908). 



Adult m.\le — General colour above chesfnut-broicn ; upper wing-coverts andinnermosl secondaries 

 like the back : qnilh dusky-brotvn externally edged with cliestnut, which is less distinct on the outi'r 

 primaries; rump and upper tail-coverts rich yellotv with a reddish-ochreous wash, which is more 

 pronounced on the rump; central pair of tail feathers golden-straw colour, e.rcept near the shaft, the 

 remainder externally edged with a slightly duller shade on their outer webs; forehead, crown of the 

 head and hind neck dull grey, inclining to whitish on the sides of the head, the ear-coverts and cheeks 

 being slightly tinged with creaniy-hiiff: remainder of the under surface creamy-buff, ivashed with 

 fatmi colour on the breast; lower part of the abdomen ivhitish, faintly tinged with creamy buff; under 

 tail-coverts black; bill leaden-grey; legs and feet leaden-grey; iris dark broivu. Total length in the 

 flKsh Jfo inches, wing 2-2, tail 1-Jf, bill 0:j, tarsus 0-62. 



Adult female — Similar in plumage to the male, but slightly paler on the under ports. 

 Distribution — North-western .\ustralia, Northern Territory of South Australia. 

 /"l^HE type of this species was described by Gould in 1843, from a single specimen procured 

 -L by Mr. Bynoe, near the Mctoria River, in the Northern Territory of South Australia, 

 during the surveying voyage of H.M.S. " Beagle." In the same locality the late Mr. M. Elsey 

 obtained a specimen in 1856. For many years it was a mm nvis ; the first time I heard of its 

 re-discovery was in 1895, when M. Octave Le Bon informed me that his former partner, 

 M. Etable, had that year trapped eight pairs in the Northern Territory of South Australia, 

 which he had taken with many other birds to Europe, and disposed of them at Antwerp. 

 M. Le Bon informs me that he saw large flocks of these birds about eighteen miles from 

 Wyndham, North-western Australia. They were frequentmg the coarse cane-grass growing 



