^GOTHELES. 



343 



dushy-grey, the innermost secondaries barred on both ivebs ivith ,jreijish-white ; the remainder less 

 distinctly marked, and on their outer ivebs only, except the first primary, which is notched and toothed 

 'With pale buff on the outer tveb; head greyish-white, with narrow blackish transverse bars; an irregular 

 band joins a crescent extending from the nape forward over the eyes, and another crescent lower down 

 tmvards the hind neck smoky-black ; a collar on the hind neck greyish-white tinged with rufous, a,id 

 having narrow transverse blackish bars; feathers around the eye blackish; ear-coverts greyish-white, 

 with narrow transverse blackish bars, except at the base; all the under surface greyish-white, irregularly 

 barred with blackish-grey; centre of the abdomen, vent and under tail-coverts white; bill blackish- 

 broimi; base of th, under mandible Jleshy-tvhite ; legs and feet flesh colour or fleshy-broxon; iris 

 blackish-broimi. Total length in the flesh 9 inches, wing 5, tail ^-75, exposed portion of bill 0% 

 tarsus 0-87. 



Adult female — Similar in plumage to the male. 



Distribution-NortheTn Territory of South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, 

 Victoria, South Australia, Central Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania. 



-rS) ATHAM described the Owlet Nightjar in his " Index Ornithologicus," under the name of 

 I \ Caprimnlgus nova-hoUandia, and there referring it to the Crested Goatsucker of Phillips' 

 " \'oyage to Botany Bay," in 1790, and later on figured and described it in his " General Synopsis 

 of Birds " under the name of the " Banded Goatsucker," and where he remarks :— " Inhabits 

 New South Whales, where it is called by the English Musquito Hawk, a name, it must be 

 remarked, the Goatsucker of North America is known by ; most frequent in July." 



The above description is taken from a New South Wales specimen, and I have before me a 

 series from all parts of the continent. There is the usual variation found in the plumage of this 

 species, even in specimens obtained in the same locality. Examples procured by the late Mr. 

 Alexander Morton, at Port Essington, from which locality Gould described the type of .^gotheles 

 leucogastc, are indistinguishable from specimens obtained by Mr. Robert Hislop at the Bloomfield 

 River, and by Mr. George Masters at Gayndah, Queensland. They are slightly browner on the 

 upper parts, and have the ear-coverts strongly washed with rufous, but not so much as is 

 exhibited in an unlocalised specimen from Victoria, which in addition has the collar on the hind 

 neck rufous, also the feathers of the head, throat and breast washed with rufous. So far as the 

 supposed distinguishing character of the white breast is concerned, it is not more apparent m the 

 specimens from North Australia than in some examples procured at Middle Haibour and Hunter's 

 Hill, near Sydney, and at Mongup, Salt River, Western Australia ; the latter also belonging to 

 the smoky-grey form of typical birds obtained around Sydney. In the " Catalogue of Birds in 

 the British Museum," Dr. E. Hartert unites ^-Egothdes leucogaster with the older described species 

 .-£. nova-hollandiu-'. Writing subsequently in " Novitates Zoologicae," - he says :— " I am now 

 of opinion, from what I have recently seen, that it is after all possible that two forms, a more 

 southern and eastern, which I should call the true nova-JwUandia, and a more northern and 

 western one, which would be Icncogastev of Gould, can be distinguished." 



In the neighbourhood of Sydney this species is not uncommon, but it usually passes the day 

 in some hollow limb of a tree, from which it may be dislodged by striking the trunk with a stick 

 or stone. If disturbed, it only flies a short distance and takes refuge in some hollow branch. A 

 specimen presented by the Rev. J. Moran, of Hunter's Hill, to the Trustees of the Australian 

 Museum, was brought into the house by a cat. It is a bird, however, unless disturbed, more 

 often heard than seen. W^hile living at Dobroyde, Ashfield, I have often, when walking in the 

 bush with the late Mr. K. H. Bennett, and especially on moonlight nights, listened to its peculiar 

 "churring " notes. 



Voi. XII., p. 216 (1905). 



