On new Central Australian Birds. 339 



XXVI. — Preliminary Descriptions of a new Genus and of 

 five new Species of Central Australian Birds. By Alfred 

 J. North, F.L.S., Australian Museum, Sydney. 



Professor W. Baldwin Spencer, of the University of Mel- 

 bourne, has kindly sent me for examination a number of 

 bird-skins collected in Central Australia during the visit of 

 the Horn Expedition in May, June, and July of last year. 

 Among them are examples of the rare Parrakeet Polytelis 

 alexandree and of five species new to science. 



Full descriptions, together with a list of all the birds pro- 

 cured, and accompanied with field- notes by the collector, 

 Mr. George Arthur Keartland, will be published in a volume 

 detailing the work and results of the expedition. 



Order PSITTACI. 



Spathopterus, gen. n. 

 Polyteles, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1863, p. 232 (part.). 







Portion of wing of Spathoptei-us alexandrce, nat. size. 

 (This figure, reproduced from a drawiug kindly made by my col- 

 league, Mr. Edgar K. Waite, F.L.S., will give ornithologists a better 

 idea of this extraordinary new genus of Parrakeets than a long and 

 minutely detailed description.) 



Generic Characters. 

 Adult male. Similar to that of the genus Polytelis, except 

 in having the end of the third primary of each wing si^igu- 

 larly elongated and terminating in a spatule. Length of 

 spatulate tip 0*75 inch ; beyond the end of the second 

 primary 0*5 inch. 



2b ? 



