INSESSORES. 231 



upper part of the breast, and under tail-coverts bright yellow ; 

 abdomen and thighs white ; irides wood-brown ; bill dark 

 brown, becoming lighter at the edges of the mandibles ; legs 

 and feet greenish blue. 



The female differs from the male in being somewhat smaller 

 in size, and in having the throat green instead of black. 



Genus OREOICA, Gould. 



The only species known of this form is strictly Australian, 

 and is a sprightly animated bird frequenting the sterile districts 

 studded with large trees, where it hops about on the ground 

 in search of insects. Notwithstanding the singularly length- 

 ened form of its scapularies and its terrestrial habits, it appears 

 to me to partake of the characters of the ColluricindcB and 

 the Pachycephalas ; its loud piping note and mode of nidifica- 

 tion also favour this opinion. It lays three or four eggs in 

 a round cup-shaped nest, placed either in a XantJiorrhoea 

 or in a hole in the stump of a tree. 



Sp. 131. OREOICA CRISTATA. 



Crested Oreoica. 



Turdus cristatus, Lewin, Birds of New HolL, pi. 9. fem. 

 Falcunculus gutturalis, Vig. and Horsf, in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 213. 

 Oreoica guttur alls, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc, part v. p. 151. 

 Oreica cristata, G. R. Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. xi. p. 190, 



note. 

 Bo-kurn-ho-kurn, Aborigines of the mountain districts of Western 



Australia. 

 Bell-bird, Colonists of Swan River. 



Oreoica gutturalis, Gould, Birds of Australia, fol., vol. ii. pi. 81. 



This very singular bird possesses an extremely wide range 

 of habitat, being dispersed over the whole of the southern 

 portion of Australia from east to west. It has not yet 

 been discovered in Tasmania or in any of the islands in 



