66 DIC^ID^. 



grey shade on the former ; a broad line of pale yellow separating 

 the breast from the sides of the body ; thighs ashy brown washed 

 with yellow ; under wing-coverts and axillarics very pale earthy 

 brown ; quiUs dusky below, ashy whitish aloug the edge of the 

 inner web ; " bill at the tip and along the culmen dark brown tinged 

 with blue, the remainder yellowish white ; legs and feet greenish 

 grey; iris brownish red" {Gould). Total length 4 inches, culmen 

 0'35, wing 2'55, tail 1-35, tarsus 0-75. 



"Sexes alike in colour'" (Gould). 



Bah. From Port Dcnison to Xew South "^ales, and throughout 

 Victoria, South Australia, and AVest Australia. 



a. (5 ad. sk. Murray River. Gould Collection. 



b. 2 ad. sk. South Australia. Sir George Grey [P.]. 

 r. Ad. sk. South Australia. Gould Collection. 



d, e. Ad. sk. Kew South Wales. Goidd Collection. 



/. Ad. sk. Victoria. Gould Collection. 



ff, h. Ad. sk. Australia. Gould Collection. 



i. Ad. sk. Australia. Sir D. Cooper [P.]. 



k. Ad. sk. Australia. Lady Hooker [P.J. 



/, m. Ad. sk. Australia. , 



Subsp. n. Pardalotus assimilis. 



Pardalotus assimilis, Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. TF. ii. p. 180 



(1878). 



Gould states that the young birds of P. striatus assume the 

 adult colouring from the nest, but have the tips of the primary- 

 coverts orange instead of red. Mr. Eamsay, however, thinks that 

 the supposed young P. striatus of Gould are really an inter- 

 mediate species between P. striatus and P. affinis, and states that he 

 has found them breeding ; Gould, however, remarks that he has 

 " positive evidence that some of the Australian species reproduce 

 their kind before they have attained their adult livery." 



It is certain that in P. melanoceplialus the young are veiy diffe- 

 rent from the adults, and have the crimson speculum as distinct 

 in the nestling as in the adult bird; and, by analogy, Gould's 

 description of the young of P. striatxhs would not be correct, 

 Mr. llamsay's view of there being a distinct intermediate form re- 

 ceiving additional confirmation. I find, moreover, that all the birds 

 for which I propose to adopt Eamsay 's name of P. assimilis have, 

 as a rtrle, the third and /oh)-^7i primaries edged with white, the third 

 for two thirds of its length, the fouith only near the base, but vary- 

 ing in extent and sometimes extending a good way up the edge of 

 the feather. The colour of the speculum varies from yellow and 

 orange to scarlet and even crimson. This question can only be 

 settled by observers in Austraha ; but it seems to me by no means 

 improbable that P. striatus and P. aJjUms interbreed, especially if 

 the localities of all the specimens in the British Museum are to be 

 reUed on. The following examples appear to me to belong to this 

 intermediate form, in which, I may also mention, the white streaks 



