" Birds of a fcat»)Cr.' 



Vol. XVIII.] isx JULY, 1918. [Part i. 



Australian Green-backed Finch (Erythrura trichroa 

 macgillivrayi). 



By J. A. Kershaw, F.E.S., Curator, National Museum, 

 Melbourne. 



The specimen illustrated is probably the first example of this 

 bird taken in Australia, and the second to be recorded. 



It was obtained by the National Museum, with other Queensland 

 skins, in March, 1891, from F. Ayres, who collected it in North 

 Queensland in 1890. 



It was then identified as Erythiira cyaneifrons, Layard, but- 

 as some doubt was entertained as to its being Australian, it was 

 not recorded. 



In 1914, while in company with Dr. W. Macgillivray, president 

 R-.A.O.U., and Mr. W. M'Lennan, on Lloyd Island, North-East 

 Queensland, the latter secured a Finch which I recognized as 

 being similar to the bird previously collected by Ayres. This 

 specimen has been recorded by Mathews [A. A. Rec, ii., p. 103, 

 1914) as a new sub-species, but he quotes the locality as Claudie 

 River instead of Lloyd Island,* and states that it differs from 

 E. t. cyaneifrons in its larger bill, deeper blue coloration on the 

 forehead and cheeks, deeper-coloured upper tail coverts and tail, 

 and longer wings. 



The specimen here dealt with approaches very closely to E. 

 cyaneifrons, the total length and measurement of the bill being 

 practically the same, not larger, as in the Lloyd. Island specimen, 

 according to Mathews, and it possesses the blue chin noted in 

 Sharpe's key to the species. The wing, however, is somewhat 

 longer. Mathews, unfortunately, only gives the length of the 

 wing — 62 mm. 



Total length, 121 mm. ; wing, 62 mm. ; tail, 50 mm. ; culmen, 

 II mm. 



The specimen figured is a male, and is in the National Museum, 

 Melbourne. 



* See Emu, vol. xvii., pp. •jt,, 208. 



