[22 White, Neic Sub-Species of Acanthiza nana. [isr'"oLt 



Description of a New Sub^Species of Acanthiza 



nana. 



By H. T.. White. M.B.O.U., Belltrees, Scone, N.S.W^ 



Acanthiza nana. Little Tit -Warbler. 



A study of variation in this little species is interesting, as 

 illustrated by the material in the H. L. White Collc^ction at the 

 National Museum, Melbourne. 



Mr. G. M. Mathews recognizes Acanthiza n. dorothece, from 

 Lithgow, as the richest ("much yellower") bird [vide Emu, 

 vol. xiv., p. 60) : but it does not appear so, judging bv typical 

 birds, say, from Blacktown or Rose Bay. The really richest 

 specimens are from my own district— Belltrees (Upper Hunter), 

 New South Wales. According to colour-chart, the under surface 

 approximates a Strontian or strong citron-yellow. Hartert's 

 A. n. mathewsi, from Eastern Victoria, is duller than either of the 

 two more northern races. So much for the yellowish varieties. 



Passing from heavily-timbered eastern Victoria to the mon^ 

 v)pen western Mallee country and contiguous parts of South 

 Australia, we have a variety (.1. ;/. pygnwa, Milligan) which is 

 cream or straw-coloured on the under surface. Following up the 

 inland country and proceeding north again, we pick up a similar 

 phase at Cobbora, N.S.W^, and still farther north, on the Dawson 

 River, Central Queensland. Birds from the last-named locality 

 have a decidedly larger and longer bill, not the " very short, fine 

 bill" of A. n. pygmea. I venture to suggest that this extreme 

 northern bird might be known as A. n. daivsoniana. 



The R.A.O.U. " Check-list " includes Southern Queensland in 

 the range of Acanthiza nana, but neither Mathews nor North 

 does. Apparently the species has not previously been recorded 

 from Central Queensland. 



Notes on Birds Seen on the Murray River, 

 August, 1918. 



By W. B. Alexander, M.A., Librarian R.A.O.U. 



The writer had the pleasure of making a lioliday trip by river 

 steamer down the Murray from Swan Hill, Victoria, to Morgan, 

 South Australia, in the last week of August, 1918. Since Capt. 

 S. A. W'hitc, in The Emu, vol. xviii., p. 8, gave an account of the 

 l)irds met with by himself and Dr. Morgan at Lake Victoria and 

 on the Murray River for 100 miles down stream, it is unnecessary 

 for me to describe the river itself or the extensive sheets of water 

 extending from its banks in the flood season far away among 

 the trees. Since, however, my journey extended ox-er nearly 

 700 miles, and Captain White's account refers only to the 100 

 miles between Lake Victoria and Renmark, it is worth wliilc to 



