-^^•1 .Mathi;\vs, I he Admission of Colour-Genera. lid) 



Now. IhouKh so (UtkTciU in coloration, there is a determinate 

 family resemblance in the colour-pattern of all these birds, and 

 that peculiar white or coloured throat patch is remarkably constant. 

 Since we see here a variation in coloration from olivacea to 

 temporalis, with apparently little structural alteration, the genus- 

 lumpers used this group as a dumi)ing-ground for any Austral 

 sj)ecies, and, as recognized now by Rothschild and Hartert, the 

 genus is heterogeneous and polyphyletic, and birds properly 

 referable to other families have been classed here. The migration 

 backwards and forwards of Eopsaltria and the species referred 

 to it will be familiar to my readers. Dr. Lowe quoted another 

 instance. One bird referred to Pcecilodryas has been transferred 

 to Saxicola, while another proves to be the female of a form of 

 Pachycephala * temporalis. He suggests study of colour-pattern 

 indicated these emendations. 



Dr. Hartert referred another bird to Pachycephala, which Dr. 

 Ramsay described as an Eopsaltria (?). from its colour-pattern. 

 I concluded it could not be classed in either, and Dr. Macgillivray, 

 from a study of the living bird, endorsed my conclusion. The 

 persistence of the colour-pattern is evidenced by the cases of P. 

 temporalis and riifiventris, where a distinct coloration is seen 

 combined with an identical colour-pattern. There is an extra- 

 limital group about P. kebirensis, Meyer, from Roma Island. 

 Moluccas, which has also retained exactly the colour-pattern, 

 but is a grey bird with white underneath instead of yellow or 

 reddish. 



As noted above, we are dealing now with a group high in the 

 scale of evolution, and one showing quick changes both in male, 

 female, and young. The fact, then, that a well-marked colour- 

 ])attern can be seen through so many changes is very remark- 

 able, and the birds coloured like P. temporalis can be cited as 

 furnishing a most thoughtful group. The variation of P. temporalis 

 throughout Australia has been expressed by the description of 

 many sub-specific forms, but the change in coloration is com- 

 paratively slight, being most easily seen in the tail coloration. 

 The shades in the female coloration, however, can be distinguished 

 in some cases. Outside Australia, however, as the birds were 

 isolated completely and different environmental stresses came 

 into play, some new changes appear. A number show as little 

 change in the male coloration as do the Australian forms, but 

 the female shows proportionately a greater change. In New 

 Caledonia, however, the female begins to evolve a male style of 

 coloration, and in P. littayei, while the male agrees closely with 

 that of P. temporalis, the female underneath has a pure white 

 throat, followed by yellow, thus differing from the male in lacking 

 the black pectoraf collar. She has, however, not evolved a black 

 head either. 



As a variation away from the temporalis, we find mentahs in 



* Dr. Lowe refers I'achvref^hala to the Shrike family. T.auiichr. Mr. Mathews 

 and the R.A.O.F. refer it to the Flycatcher family, .Muscicapida-. 



