INSESSORES. 361 



the eye an indistinct line of white; all the under surface 

 washed with yellowish buff; irides greenish white. 



The female presents the usual differences, being somewhat 

 smaller in size and wanting the black mark on the lores. 



Total length 4 J inches ; bill f ; wing 2^ ; tail 2 ; tarsi |. 



Sp. 218. SERICORNIS MACULATUS, Gould, 



Spotted Sericornis. 



Sericornis maculatus, Gould iti Proc. of Zool. Soc, part xv. p. 2. 

 Goor-gal, Aborigines of the mountain districts of Western Austraha. 



Sericornis maculatus, Gould, Birds of Australia, foL, vol. iii. pi. 51, 



The present bird, to which I have assigned the specific 

 term of maculatus, has always been a source of perplexity to 

 me, from the circumstance of its varying considerably in its 

 markings ; after mature consideration, however, I am induced 

 to regard the specimens from Southern and Western Aus- 

 tralia and the north coast as referable to one and the same 

 species, each however possessing trivial differences by which 

 it may be known from whence it was received. Specimens 

 from the Houtman's Abrolhos are of a rather smaller size, of 

 a much greyer tint on the back, and have much darker- 

 coloured legs. I believe that the bright yellow wash on the 

 under surface of some individuals is characteristic of newly 

 moulted birds : in this species, not only is the throat spotted 

 with black, but the spotting extends over the chest and some 

 distance down the flanks ; it has at all times the tail tipped 

 with white, a character which serves at once to distinguish it 

 from S. osculans and S. frontalis. Scrubby places and ravines 

 covered with dense herbage, whether in sterile or humid 

 situations, are its favourite resort. It has the same shy dis- 

 position and retiring habits as the other members of the 

 genus, depending for safety rather upon its creeping, mouse- 

 like habits than upon its powers of flight, which are indeed 

 seldom resorted to. 



