INSESSORES. 225 



diameter and four in height, the interior being three inches 

 and a half in breadth by two and a half in depth. The sites 

 usually selected for the nest are the hollow open stump of a 

 tree, a cleft in a rock, &c. 



The male has the general plumage dark slate-grey, deepening 

 into brown on the back and wings, much paler on the under 

 surface, and fading into white on the throat and breast ; over 

 the eye a faint stripe of greyish white ; bill black ; irides 

 brown ; feet light lead-colour. 



The female or young male has all the upper surface, wings, 

 and tail brown ; upper tail- coverts slate-grey ; over the eye a 

 stripe of rust-red ; under surface light grey tinged with brown 

 on the throat and breast, and each feather with a stripe of 

 dark brown down the centre ; bill horn-colour at the base, 

 black at the tip. 



Sp. 127. COLLURICINCLA PARVULA, Gould 

 Little Shrike-Thrush. 



Colluricincla parvula, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc, part xiii. 1845, 

 p. 62. 



Colluricincla parvula, Gould, Birds of Australia, foL, vol. ii. pi. 78. 



This species, to which I have given the name of j^arvula, 

 from the circumstance of its being the smallest of the genus 

 that has come under my notice, is a native of Port Essington 

 and the neighbouring parts of the northern coast of Australia. 

 Gilbert, to whose notes I must refer for all that is known 

 about it, states that it is " an inhabitant of the thickets, is an 

 extremely shy bird, and is generally seen on or near tlie 

 ground. Its note is a fine thrush-like tone, very clear, loud, 

 and melodious. The stomach is muscular, and the food con- 

 sists of insects of various kinds, but principally of colcoptera. 

 The nest and eggs were brought me by a native ; they were 

 taken from the hollow part of a tree, about four feet from the 

 ground ; the former, whicli was too much injured to be pre- 



