10 Mr. A. J. Campbell on a new Species of 



And now I shall conclude this short contribution to the 

 history of a highly interesting bird, which has so utterly 

 disappeared through the ruthless agency of man, by ex- 

 pressing the hope that we may no longer be guilty of such 

 barbaric vandalism, and that the touching appeal written by 

 Gould to the Australians thirty-five years ago for the preser- 

 vation of the Larger Emeu may be attended to. 



Royal Zuulogical Museum, Florence, 

 L'Otli August, 1900. 



II. — Oti a new Species of Blue Wren from Kiny Island^ 

 Bass Strait. By A. J. Campbell (Melbourne). 



There are no more popular and pleasing little birds than 

 the beautiful Blue Wrens of Eastern Australia. The speci- 

 mens of this form procured on King Island, Bass Strait, by 

 the Expedition of the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria 

 (in Nov. 1887), were thought by collectors (myself included) 

 to be Malurus gouldi. But I have since obtained a series of 

 skins of Blue Wrens from Tasmania and thence to the 

 Tropics, and find the King Island bird to be quite distinct. 

 Its characteristics are that it is the largest of all, and that 

 it has a decidedly darker shade of blue — brilliant ultramarine 

 being the nearest colour. The tail is very dark blue, while 

 there is also quite a wash of blue on the bufty-white 

 under surface beneath the band of velvety black, and on 

 the outer webs of the primaries. The female is similar 

 to that of M. cyaneus, but much larger and slightly darker 

 brown in colour, with a bluish tinge on the feathers of the 

 tail. 



Out of compliment to my wife, who has greatly assisted 

 me by transcribing and correcting the draft of a work on the 

 ' Nests and Eggs of Australian Birds,' now in the hands of a 

 British publishing firm, I propose the name M. elizabethcE for 

 this new variety ; but to be known in the vernacular list as the 

 Dark Blue Wren, in contradistinction to Dr. Sharpens Silvery 

 (Light) Blue Wren {M. cyanochlamijs), the most northern 

 form. 



The greatest favourites about our camps on King Island 



