176 Campbell, Birds from Gouldian-Gilbevl Type-locality, [j^f"] 



Emu 

 an. 



Gilbert mentions that the Port Essington bird was only an 

 occasional visitor, arriving about the middle of November, when 

 the rainy season commenced, and disappearing again in a week 

 or two. During its short stay it frequented swampy but open 

 grassy situations. He never saw more than six or eight at a time, 

 and always found them very wild. 



Long 3^ears afterwards it was left to the untiring energy of Mr. 

 Gregory Mathews to establish the existence of a second species 

 of Snipe in AustraUa, first mentioning it in The Austral Avian 

 Record, i., p. 125 (1912), then figuring the bird in his greater work, 

 " The Birds of Australia," iii., pi. 167. While praising Mr. 

 Mathews's good work, it is only fair to students to say his " 1913 

 List " is very puzzling on some points. I found it convenient 

 to take the Gouldian-Gilbert type-localities from it, but in 

 checking Gould's original references I found that eight or ten 

 type-localities were not Gilbertian, but were " North- West Coast 

 of Australia" and not "Port Essington, Northern Territory," as 

 indicated on Mr. Mathews's " List." The instances are cited as 

 they occur in the pages following. 



List of Species and Remarks. 



[Nomenclature according to R.A.O.U. " Check-list," together with that 

 of Mathews's "List of the Birds of Australia " (1913).] 



Megapodius tumulus, Gould. Scrub-Fowl. 



Megapodius duperryii tuniulus* 



One cJ. Heavier than the Eastern Queensland variety {iissimilis. 

 Masters), especially bill and legs, besides being darker in colour 

 and having the loose feathers of the head not so reddish-brown. 

 W'ing, 280 mm. ; eastern bird, 250 mm. 



Gilbert furnishes a long and interesting account of the Scrub- 

 Fowl's habits as witnessed at Port Essington district (Gould's 

 " Handbook," ii., pp. 168-174). 



Synoicus (australis) cervinus, Gould. Northern Brown Quail. 

 Ypsilophorus ypsilophoriis cervinus. 



One S, I ?. Smaller and redder (sandy), especially the ^, than 

 typical australis from New South Wales, but similar to North- West 

 Australian birds (see Mathews's " Birds of Australia," i., pi. 11). 

 Gould does not figure this race. A specimen procured by H. G. 

 Barnard and myself on Kirrama table-land, Rockingham Bay dis- 

 trict, is not " more reddish on the under surface," on which 

 supposition Mathews has designated it queenslandicus. 



Turnix castanota, Gould. Chestnut-backed Quail. 

 Austroturnix c. castanota. 



One (J, 2 $?. Lighter red than North- West Australian specimens, 

 whicli differ, as Mathews has pointed out {Nov. Zool., xviii., p. 181), 

 and named magnifica. Moreover, King River birds possess 



* Mathews has since amended the genus and the dominant species — vide 

 Austral Avian Record, vol. ii., p. 112, and vol. iii., p. 20, respectively. 



