000 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



broad band of blackish brown ; tail brown, all but the two 

 centre feathers crossed by a broad band of blackish brown ; 

 all the nnder surface greyish brown, each feather of the chest 

 and abdomen having a stripe of dull white, bounded on either 

 side with black, running down the centre ; under tail-coverts 

 reddish buff, crossed by irregular bars of black ; irides, bill, 

 and feet blackish brown. 



Little difference is observable either in the colour or size of 

 the sexes ; the female may, nevertheless, be at once distin- 

 guished from the male by the spots at the base of the throat 

 being rufous instead of blackish brown as in the male. 



Sp.3()7. CLIMACTERIS RUFA, Gould. 



Rufous Tree-Creeper. 



Climacteris rvfa, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc, part viii. p. 149. 

 Jin-nee, Aborigines of the mountain districts of Western Australia. 



Climacteris rufa, Gould, Birds of Australia, fol., vol. iv. pi. 94. 



In its robust form and general contour this species closely 

 resembles the Climacteris scandens, but from which it is readily 

 distinguished by the rufous colouring of its plumage. 



It is a common bird at Swan River, where Gilbert states 

 it is most abundant in the gum forests abounding with 

 the white ant : it ascends the smooth bark of the Eaculypti, 

 and traverses round the larger branches with the greatest 

 facility, feeding, like the other members of the genus, upon 

 insects of various kinds ; but is frequently to be seen on 

 tlie ground, searching for ants and their larvae, and in this 

 situation presents a most grotesque appearance, from its 

 waddling gait. 



Its note is a single piercing cry, uttered more rapidly and 

 loudly when the bird is disturbed, and having a very singular 

 and striking effect amidst the silence and solitude of the 

 forest. 



