294 



Poephila hecki. 



ORANGE-BILLEU GRASS FINCH. 

 Poephila hecki, Heinroth, Ornith. Monatsb., Jahr. VIII., p. 22 (1900) ; North, Proc. Linn. Soc. 



N. S. Wales, Vol. XXX., p. 101 (1905). 

 Poephila (mratifUroslris, North, Proc Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, Vol. XXVII., p. 207 (1902). 



Adult male — Simihir to the ndnJi male of Poephila acuticauda, Gould, but having the bill 

 orange-scarlet instead uf pale wax yellow, as in that species. Tottd lengtli iiitliejlesh, 5 5 inches, icing 

 2-S5, central tail feathers 2o, hill O-^S, tarsus 06. 



Adult female — Similar in plumage to the male. 



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

 /"I^HE Orange-billed Grass Finch was originally described by Dr. O. Heinroth from living 

 -L examples in the Berlin Zoological Gardens, under the name of Focphila hecki, but the 

 part of Australia from which the birds were procured was not known to the describer. 



Unaware at the time of this description, I first brought under notice in Australia the present 

 species, while making the following remarks in the " Proceedings of the Linnean Society of 

 New South Wales" * in 1902: — "Among a large number of live birds brought to Sydney a 

 few years ago by M. Octave Le Bon, who had trapped them in North-western Australia, my 

 attention was arrested by numerous examples of Long-tailed Grass Finches. The greater 

 number captured at Derby were of the well known type of Poephila acuticauda, with pale wax 

 yellow bills, while those caught at Wyndham were almost similar in colour, but were distinguished 

 by having their bills orange-scarlet, forming a marked contrast, especially when seen together 

 in the same cage. This distinction was also pointed out to me some time ago by Mr. G. A. 

 Keartland, of Melbourne, who had both the pale yellow and orange-billed birds in confinement ; 

 and again more recently by sending me a skin of one of the latter that had died the previous 

 day in his aviary. Mr. Keartland, who had many opportunities of observing Poephila acuticauda 

 while at Derby, informs me that the bills of all the specimens he collected, and of sixteen 

 birds he brought back with him alive, were all pale wax-yellow. Since his return others 

 caught at Wyndham and Port Darwin, and which he had in confinement, were all distinguished 

 by their orange-scarlet bills. Age or sex has nothing to do with this distinction, for I have seen 

 many hundreds of Poephila acuticauda, and have had them under observation from the nestling to 

 the adult, while breeding in confinement. If the colour of the bills of the Wyndham and Port 

 Darwin birds is not a specific character, it certainly constitutes a very distinct variety of Poephila 

 acuticauda, which I propose to distinguish under the name of Poephila aurantiirostris." Since that 

 time I have seen large numbers of these birds that were caught inland from Port Darwin, in 

 the Northern Territory of South Australia, and Mr. Percy Peir has presented specimens to the 

 Trustees of the Australian Museum obtained in the same district. The colour of the bill 

 of both Poephila acuticauda and Poephila hecki quickly fades after death, and when skins are 

 kept for a year or two, it is impossible to distinguish one from the other, unless they are properly 

 labelled when the skins are first prepared. 



Of the nidification of Poephila hecki I know nothing, but doubtless it is similar to that of its 

 close ally Poephila acuticauda. A set of eggs of the former in Mr. G. A. Keartland's collection, 

 taken at Wyndham, North-western Australia, on the 14th June, 1902, are pure white, oval in 

 form, the shell being close-grained, smooth and lustreless, and measure as follows : — Length (A) 

 0-62 X 0-46 inches ; (B) 0-62 x 0-48 inches ; (C) 0-62 x 0-46 inches ; (D) 0-63 x 0*47 inches. 

 (E) 0*62 X 0'45 inches. 



• Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, Vol. XXVII,, p. 207 (1902). 



