Jhe £mu 



Official Organ of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists' Union. 



•* Birds of zv fczvthcr." 



Vol. XV.] isx JANUARY, 1916. [Part 3. 



Poccilodryas albigularis (Rothschild and Hartert). 



I5v A. J. (AMi'BELi,, r.M.B.O.U., Melbourne. 

 The White-throated Shrike-Robin was hrst discovered by Mr. 

 Harry Barnard, at Cape York, while collecting for Mr. Dudley 

 Le Souef, Col. C. S. Ryan, and the late Dr. Wm. Snowball, during 

 the season 1896-7. The specimen figured is a male procured by 

 him, and now in the private collection of Mr. H. L. White, Belltrees, 

 N.S.W. 



General Description. — Upper surface olive-green ; tail feathers 

 light brown edged with olive ; ear coverts and forehead blackish- 

 brown, which colour extends over the eye and blends into the dark 

 grey of the crown of head ; face, including a narrow rim round 

 the eye, and throat pure white ; under surface yellow, of a slightly 

 greenish tinge ; bill black or dark brown ; legs and feet flesh 

 colour. 



Dimensions : — Total length, 4I inches; wing, 3 ; tail, i|; tarsus, |. 



Commenting on the New Guinea bird (P. albifacies, Sharpe), 

 Drs. Rothschild and Hartert {Nov. Zool., xiv., p. 459) state that 

 " specimens from Cape York (Queensland) have not only the chin 

 but nearly the whole of the throat for about i cm. white, and 

 the pileum is slightly more blackish. This form may be named 

 Pcecilodryas leucops albigularis, sub-sp. no v." 



The specimen which became the type was collected by Mr- 

 A. S. Meek, at Cape York, 21st July, 1898. 



It may be here remarked that Mr. G. M. Mathews was inclined 

 to bunch the Pcecilodryas and Pachycephala under the latter genus- 

 (See " Reference-list to the Birds of AustraUa," Nov. Zool., xviii., 

 p. 312.) Considered oologically — " by their fruits ye shall know 

 them " is a truism — the birds differ much. Pcecilodryas has a 

 well-made nest, artistically decorated, and the eggs are greenish 

 with reddish markings ; Pachycephala build looser and shallower 

 nests, and lay yellowish or olive-coloured eggs marked with olive 

 pr umber. 



