90 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



which circumstance suggested the specific appellation I have 

 assigned to it. 



It is a native of Western Australia. 



Sp. 44. PODARGUS PHAL^NOIDES, Gould. 



MOTH-PLUMAGED PoDARGUS. 



Podargus Phahsnoides, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc, part vii. p. 142. 

 Ny-ane ? and In-ner-j'in-ert, Aborigines of the neighbourhood of Port 

 Essington. 



Podargus phalsenoides, G-ould, Birds of Australia, foL, vol. 11. pi. 5. 



The present bird, which is from Port Essington, may be 

 readily distinguished from every other Australian species of 

 Podargus by its small size, by the beautiful, delicate, and 

 moth-like painting of its plumage, and by the colouring of 

 the thighs, which are light brown instead of black ; its tail 

 also is rather more lengthened than that of the common spe- 

 cies, P. humercdis and P. Cuvieri. Like the other members 

 of the genus, it exhibits considerable variation in size and 

 colouring; in some a rusty-red tint pervades the whole 

 plumage, while in others no trace of this hue occurs. The 

 difference in the colouring of the Podargi may be sexual, as 

 we find to be the case in many of the Owls. 



I have several specimens of the Moth-plumaged Podargus 

 from the north-west coast of Australia, and Gilbert states 

 that it is abundant in every part of the Coburg Peninsula. 



Like the rest of the genus, it is strictly nocturnal; its 

 whole economy in fact, as far as known, so closely resembles 

 that of the Podargus humeralis that one description would 

 serve for both. 



Porehead, sides of the face, and all the under surface 

 brownish grey, minutely freckled with black ; the feathers of 

 the under surface with a stripe of blackish broAvn down the 

 centre, these stripes being broadest and most conspicuous on 

 the sides of the chest ; all the upper surface brown, minutely 



