191 7'] Dirk Hartog Island and Peron Peninsula. 591 



most plentiful in the Gascoyne and Point Cloates districts 

 in the vvjnter months, after rain. A male bird shot on the 

 Peron (November 28) appeared to be breeding then, but 

 other males were mostly changing plumage about tliat date, 

 and through December and January. Two males in full 

 breeding-plumage were noted on 12 January, 1917. 



In Gould's folio edition 'Birds of Australia,' vol. iii. 

 plate 25, and ' Handbook of the Birds of Australia,' vol. i. 

 p. 331, the Blue and White- winged Wren with a blue back 

 is described under the name of Malurus leucopterus (Q. &G.) . 

 Gould stated that he was doubtful whether this was the 

 same bird as that figured by Messrs. Quoy and Gaimard 

 (though first described by Dumont) in the 'Voynge de 

 I'Urariie,' and, in the event of his bird proving to be 

 different (which has now been shown), he proposed the 

 name of Malurus cyanotus, which name must now stand. 

 Gould also described a Blue and White-winged Wren with 

 a white back under the name of Malurus icuconotus, but 

 said it was "very similar" to M. leucopfen/s, and he apjju- 

 rently described it from a single stuffed male specimen 

 (or skin) in the possession of Mrs. Craufuird, of Budleigh 

 Salterton in Devon. Mr. A. J. North, in his 'Nests 

 and Eggs of Birds breeding in Australia and Tasmania/ 

 p. 217, says he is by no means certain that the two species 

 are distinct. In any case, specimens described under both 

 names have been obtained, sometimes in the same locality, 

 right across Australia from west to east — in New South 

 Wales, Victoria, South and West Australia. 



Some years ago I noticed that the blue feathers in the inter- 

 scapular region in these birds are really long pendent feathers 

 growing on the base of the hack of the neck, and if these are 

 raised by a pencil, white feathers will be observed growing 

 beneath them, right across the back {vide Plate X.). The 

 pendent blue feathers overlap them in triangular form, 

 and hang down over the mid-lower back. Many specimens 

 obtained in various parts of mid-west Australia have been 

 examined in the flesh, immediately after shooting, and all 

 had white feathers uuderneath the blue, varying in amount 



