292 PLOCEID^. 



result, neither species has been observed or obtained by them in New South Wales. To what 

 then must be ascribed the total absence of these Finches, for it cannot be to the altered state of 

 this part of the country, or the continued want of favourable seasons ? 



Among a number of adult specimens of Batkilda ynficauda now before me, there is a variation 

 principally in the colour of the breast and abdomen and under tail-coverts ; some, too, have a 

 more pronounced olive wash on the upper parts. The richest coloured specimen, both on the 

 upper and under surface and also having the largest amount of crimson on the head, is a fine 

 old adult male procured by Mr. E. J. Cairn at Derby, North-western Australia. 



Dr. Ernst Hartert has subspecifically separated specimens from Cape York under the name 

 of Batkilda ruficauda claresccns, ''■'■ to which he refers also specimens obtained at the Alligator 

 River, in the Northern Territory of South Australia, t remarking, " the typical larger and darker 

 ruficauda is from New South Wales and South Queensland." Doubtless applicable to this form 

 are the notes of Mr. G. A. Keartland, and the specimens I have referred to from North-western 

 Australia, the Burke District, Gulf of Carpentaria and Queensland. Gould, however, in 

 describing the type, does not give the locality where it was obtained, but only its habitat. New 

 Holland. 



Mr. G. A. Keartland sends me the following notes :— " I met with Batkilda ruficauda in small 

 flocks near the junction of the Fitzroy and Margaret Rivers, North-western Australia. They 

 frequently came to the horse trough at the well to drink, in company with other species. They 

 were very active morning and evening, but during the heat of the day they sheltered themselves 

 amongst the thickest foliage they could find. Their nests are flask-shaped, and apparently built 

 of fresh gathered grass, as much of the material used in those I examined had not lost its green 

 colour. They were placed in bushes about five feet high. One nest, from which I shot the 

 bird in March, 1897, contained five white eggs." 



Three eggs, taken from one of the above described nests, are oval in form, pure white, the 

 shell being close-grained, smooth and lustreless. They measure : — Length (A) 0'57 x 0'4i inches ; 

 (B) 0-57 X 0-43 inches; (C) o-6 x 0*42 mches. Two eggs received from Dr. Henry Sinclair, 

 in 1891, measure : — Length (.\) o-6 x 0-47 inches ; (B) o-6 x 0-45 inches. 



From notes made by Mr. F. Lawson Whitlock, while collecting in the neighbourhood of 

 the De Grey and Coongan Rivers, in North-western Australia, on behalf of Mr. H. L. ^\'hite, 

 of Belltrees, Scone, New South Wales, I have extracted the following information : — " Batkilda 

 ruficauda is found both on the Upper Coongan and also the De Grey Rivers, but is local in the 

 extreme. I disturbed a sitting female from her nest in a small bush in the bed of the Coongan 

 River, whilst watching a pair oi yEgialitis melanops. I was much puzzled at first, as I could see 

 at once that the nest was not that of Tceniopygia castanotis. It was very round, rather large, and 

 woven in quite a different manner, and moreover had a scanty lining of feathers. I hid myself 

 and watched, and after a time saw the female slip into the nest, and eventually I secured the 

 pair of birds. On the De Grey River I caught a couple of nestlings for examination, and found 

 the old nest near at hand, and in the same prickly climbing plant was a new nest containing 

 eggs. The call note of this species is very feeble, and resembles somewhat that of Zosterops 

 gouldi." 



Young birds have the head and upper parts ochreous brown ; upper tail-coverts and central 

 tail feathers dull red ; all the under surface and under tail-coverts ochreous, paler on the abdomen ; 

 bill black; legs and feet light brown; iris brown. Wing 1-9 inches. 



• Nov. Zool., Vol VI., p. 427 (1899.) t Nov. Zool., Vol. XII., P.-23S (1905.) 



