292 PLOCEID^, 



21. STAGANOPLEURA. „ 



Type. 



Staganopleura, Reichenh. Syst. Av. Nat. Taf. Ixxv. fig. 25 



(1851 ) S. guttata. 



Sporotlilastes, Bp. {nee Cab.) Consp. i. p. 455 (1850) !S. guttata. 



Mange. Confined to Australia. 



1. Staganoplenra guttata. 



White-headed Finch, Lafh. Gen. Syn. Suj>pl. i. p. 210, pi. 132 



(1787) *. 

 Fringilla leucocephala, Lafh. Ind. Orn. p. xlviii (1790). 

 Loxia guttata, Shaic, Mus. Lever, p. 47, fig. 2 of plate (1792). 

 Fringilla leucocephala, Vieill. Ois. Chant, p. 50, pi. 26 (1805). 

 Spotted Grossbeak, Letvhi, Nat. Hist. Birds N. S. W. pi. xi. (1822). 

 Fringilla lathami, Vig. df Horsf. Trayis. Linn. Si/c.xv. p. 256 (1827). 

 Aniadina guttata, Gould, B. Ansfr. fol. iii. pi. 8ij (1848) ; Sturt, 



Exped. Centr. Ausf.r. ii. p. 27 (1849); Gray, Gen. B. ii. p. 370 



(1849); Reichenh. FdV/. Neuholl. p. 112 (1850); Gray, Hand-l. B. 



ii. p. 56, uo. G789 (1870). 

 Sporothlastes guttata, Bp. Co?isp. i. p. 455 (1850). 

 Stegauopleum guttata, Cab. Mus. Hein. Th. i. p. 172 (1850) ; 



Reichenh. Singv. p. 20, Taf. v. figs. 44-46 (18(52;; Gould, Handh. 



B. Austr. i. p. 417 (1865). 

 Aniadina lathami, Dir/yles, Orn. Austr. pi. 49. fig. 5 (1870) ; Keulem. 



Onze Voy. ii. pi. 52 (1873). 

 Estrilda (Steganopleura) guttata, Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. W. 



ii. p. 186 (1878) ; id. Tab. List Austr. B. p. 10 (1888). 



Adult male. General colour above brown ; rump and upper tail- 

 coverts rich crimson, with a patch of black feathers on the sides of 

 the rump ; w iiig-coverts like the back ; bastard- wing, primarj'- 

 coverts, and quills dusky brown, edged with brown like the back, 

 more ashy on the primaries ; tail-feathers black ; crown of head 

 and hind neck ashy gi'ey : lores black, with a hoary whitish line 

 above ; sides of face and ear-coverts more pearly grey below the 

 eye ; cheeks and throat white, followed by a broad black band across 

 the fore neck, the lateral feathers having white spots at the end ; 

 breast and abdomen pure white ; sides of body and flanks black, 

 each feather with a large white subterminal spot ; thiglis and under 

 tail-coverts white ; under wing-coverts and axillaries white, dusky 

 near the edge of the wing ; quills below dusky, ashy along the inner 

 edge : " bill blood-red, passing into lilac at the base and on the 

 culmen ; feet purjilish brown ; iris red, surrounded by a narrow, 

 naked, lilac-red lash"' ((ro»?irZ). Total length 4-3 inches, culmen 

 0-4, wing 2o5, tail 1*55, tarsus O-oo. 



The sexes are alike in colour. {Gould.) 



The young for the first year has the bill black, except at the 

 base, where it is flesh-colour ; the band across the breast and the 

 flanks greyish brown, the latter being barred indistinctly with 



* Taken from a drawing and doubtless intended for the present species ; but 

 the description is so inaccurate that I do not adopt the name leucocephala. 



