106 



TIMELIIBiE. 



3. Sphenura broadbenti. 



Sphenura broadbenti, McCoi/, Ann. <§• Maq. Nat. Hist. (3) xix. 

 p. 185 (1867), XX. p. 179 (1867); Gould, B. Austr. Suppl. pi. 25 

 (1869); Gray, Ilaud-L B. I p. 205, no. 2900 (1869); Ramsay, 

 Proc. Linn. Soc. X. S. W. ii. p. 185 (1878). 



" Back, shoulders, and flanks dark brown ; wings and tail of a 

 slightlj- richer and more rufous-brown, the tail-feathers in some 

 lights seeming to be transversely marked with faint, glossj-, trans- 

 verse, narrow bands of a slightly lighter shade ; crown, nape, and 

 ear-coverts rich chestnut or rufous-brown ; a triangular spot in 

 front of, and slightly over each eye, and the throat, greyish white ; 

 feathers of the breast lunulated, greyish white at their margins, 

 dull brownish like the flanks at their base ; the greyish white ex- 

 tends in a narrow track along the middle of the abdomen ; legs, 

 feet, upper part and tip of the bill dull brown ; lateral parts of the 

 upper mandible and the basal portion of the lower one yellowish ; 

 legs 7" 9'", bill from gape 94'", from forehead 7'", wings 3" 4|"', 

 tail 4" 10'", tarsus 1" 2'". The great length of the wing, tarsi, and 

 bill easily distinguish this species from the two previously known, 

 as well as the rufous head and ears, and the greyish white instead 

 of buff" colour over the front of the eye. I am uncertain what 

 value should be attached to the much darker and stronger lunula- 

 tion of the breast-feathers, as I have only seen one specimen, and 

 am not certain whether it has attained maturity. The bill is 

 stronger, being deeper as well as longer, and slightly more arched 

 in the culmen than in the S. hrachyptera, to which it is most nearly 

 allied. The sixth primary is also slightly longer than the fifth and 

 seventh, which are equal ; the claws are rather stouter than in that 

 species, and the three or four large rictal bristles are weaker. The 

 specimen described was presented to the Museum by Mr. Broadbent, 

 who shot it in December 1858, in a dense scrub twenty-four miles 

 from Portland Bay, while it was uttering a note like that of an 

 English Thrush, and running over logs on the ground. I have not 

 since seen another specimen." {McCoy, I.e.) 



Hah. Interior of South Australia. 



7. AMYTIS. 



Tvpe, 

 Amvtis, Lesson, Traife d'Oni. p. 454 (18.31) A. texlilia. 



Bill of Amytis striata, to show rictal bristles. 

 Range. Confined to Australia. 



