352 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



mouse than a bird, and if once alarmed it is no easy task to 

 get a sight of it again ; its note is a short and feeble but very 

 pleasing song. 



" The stomach is muscular, and the food consists of insects 

 of various kinds." 



General plumage pale rufous, vi^ith broad and conspicuous 

 striae of blackish brown forming lines down the centre of the 

 feathers of the head and back ; the under surface fading into 

 white on the throat and centra of the chest ; tail-feathers with 

 a conspicuous blackish spot on the under surface near the tip ; 

 irides light reddish brown ; bill and feet fiesh-brown. 



Total length 3f inches ; bill ^ ; wing If j tail If ; tarsi f . 



Sp. 211. CISTICOLA ISURA, Gould. 



Square-tailed Grass-Warbler. 

 Cysiicola isura, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc, part xv. p. 32. 



Cysticola isura, Gould, Birds of Australia, foL, vol. iii. pi. 44. 



I am uncertain whether this bird may not prove to be a 

 female, or an example in some peculiar state of plumage of 

 the Cisticola ruficeps. Without a further knowledge of the 

 subject, I can only view it as distinct, and I have therefore 

 assigned to it the specific appellation of isura, as indicative 

 of the shorter and more truncated form of its tail, the prin- 

 cipal character by which it may be distinguished. Like the 

 other species of the group, it appears to enjoy an extensive 

 range over the grassy districts of the country, the specimens 

 in my possession having been killed on the Liverpool Plains 

 and at Port Phillip. 



Sides and back of the neck and rump pale rufous ; crown 

 of the head, back, and secondaries deep brownish black, each 

 feather margined with buff; tail dark brown margined with 

 buff, and crossed on the under side near the tip with a broad 

 conspicuous band of black ; under surface deep buff, becoming 



