INSESSORES. 603 



with buff on the centre of the abdomen ; under tail-coverts 

 bufFy white, crossed by irregular bars of black ; irides brown ; 

 bill and feet black. 



Total length 5 inches ; bill f ; wing 3^ ; tail 2f ; tarsi f . 



The female differs in having the chestnut marking round 

 the eye much richer, and in having, in place of the greyish 

 brown on the breast, a series of feathers of a rusty red colour, 

 with a broad stripe of dull white down their middles, the 

 stripes appearing to radiate from a common centre ; in all 

 other particulars her plumage resembles that of the male. 



Sp. 3G9. CLIMACTERIS MELANONOTA, Gould. 



Black-backed Tree-Creeper. 

 Climacteris melanotus, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc, part xiv. p. 106. 



Climacteris melanotus, Gould, Birds of Australia, fol., vol. iv. 

 pi. 96. 



For this additional species of the limited genus Climacteris, 

 a form confined to Australia, we are indebted to Dr. Leichardt's 

 Expedition from Moreton Bay to Port Essington. It was 

 killed in latitude 15° 57' south, on the eastern side of the 

 Gulf of Carpentaria, and is rendered particularly interesting 

 to me as being one of the birds procured by poor Gilbert on 

 the day of his lamented death, the 28th of June 1 845, which 

 untoward event prevented him from recording any particulars 

 respecting it : all, therefore, that I can do, is to point out the 

 differences by which it may be distinguished from the other 

 members of the genus, and recommend to future observers 

 the investigation of its habits. 



In the dark coloming and thick velvety plumage of the 

 upper surface it is most nearly allied to the Climacteris 

 melanura, but differs from that species in being destitute of 

 the lanceolate marks on the throat, and from all others in the 

 dark colouring of the back. 



The usual distinction of the sexes — the finer colouring of 



