166 ilWCICAPIDJ!. 



Petroeca multicolor, Cab. Mus. Ileln. Th. i. p. 11; Eamsay, Proc. 

 Linn. Soc. N. S. W. ii. p. 183, no. 178. 



Adult. General colour above silky black, the feathers with grey- 

 bases ; lesser wing-coverts black like the back : median series and 

 inner greater coverts white, the latter with concealed blackish bases 

 to the inner webs ; outer greater coverts and primary-coverts 

 blackish ; quiUs blackish brown, the inner primaries with a spot of 

 white near the base of the outer web ; secondaries all white at base, 

 the inner ones white along the outer web, forming a bar down the 

 wing ; tail blackish brown, the penultimate feather white at tip, and 

 having a wedge-shaped mark of white running down the outer web ; 

 outer feather white, with an oblique brown mark towards the base 

 of the inner web, and with a dark-brown mark near the tip of the 

 outer web ; forehead white ; a narrow frontal line, lores, sides of 

 face, and throat black, at base of the latter a concealed white spot ; 

 breast light scarlet, some of the side feathers with black margins ; 

 abdomen, lower flanks, and under tail-coverts white ; thighs black ; 

 under wing-coverts and axillaries white, the outer ones edged with 

 black ; quills blackish below, brown along the edge of the inner 

 web, and white at the base of the secondaries ; " bill and feet 

 black; iris very dark brown" (Gould). Total length 5 inches, 

 culmen 0-45, wing 2-85, tail 2-1, tarsus 0-8. 



The female has all the upper and under surface brown, with the 

 breast strongly tinged with red (Gould). 



Obs. A specimen labelled female from Tasmania, and obtained by 

 the Antarctic Expedition, is exactly like the male, and is probably 

 wrongly determined, as the sexes seem to differ in colour throughout 

 this entire genus. A female from Western Australia (King George 

 Sound) differs from all the eastern birds in its extremely narrow 

 white forehead, and may probably indicate a second species. 



Hab. Australia : Eockingham Bay, Port Deuison, Wide-Bay 

 district, Richmond and Clarence-River districts, New South Wales, 

 interior of Australia, Yictoria, South Australia. Tasmania. (Cf. 

 Eamsay, I. c.) 



a. 2 ad. ak. Australia. Linnean Society [P.]. 



b. 2 ad. sk. King George Sound. Sir George Grey [P.]. 

 c,d. 5 ad.; e. Juv. sk. Tasmania. Ronald Gunn, Esq. [P.]. 

 f. (S ad. sk. Tasmania. J. B. Jukes, Esq. [PT). 



ff, h, i. (S ad. sk. Tasmania. Antarctic Expedition [C.]. 



k. (S ad. sk. South Australia. Sir George Grey [P.]. 



2. Petroeca phcenicea. 



Petroica phcenicea, Gould, P. Z. S. 18.36, p. 105 ; id. Syn. B. Aiistr. 



part 1, pi. 7. fig. 2; id. B. Austr. folio, iii. pi. 6; Gray, Gen. B. i. 



p. 183 ; Bp. Consp. i. p. 299 ; Reichenb. Vog. Ncuholl. pp. 93, 289; 



Pelz. Reis. Novara, Vog. p. 64 ; Gould, Ilandb. B. Austr. \. p. 282; 



Gray, Hand-l. B. i. p. 228, no. 3291. 

 Petrceca phcenicea, Cob. Mtis. Hein. Tb. i. p. 11 ; Ramsay, Proc. 



Limi. Soc. N. S. W. ii. p. 183. 



