Vol. XXI. 



1921 



HOWE. The Gcmis CUmactcris. 39 



to 30 feet up. Mr. Barnard found the birds generally in pairs on 

 the coastal rivers of Northern Territory, where the nests each 

 contained two tggs. Grant* described a bird from Clifton 

 Downs, West Australia, as a new species, Cliiiiactcris lucllsi; 

 it seerns to be referable to Mathew's ll'hitlocka melanura zt'cllsi, 

 a good sub-sjjecies. The skins in the H. L. White Collection 

 are much smaller than the dominant form, and are more 

 rufous on the breast and abdomen in both sexes. A juvenile 

 skin is without the radiated breast-markings, merely showing a 

 trace of the gular striations at the base of the bill. Mr. Mathews 

 has named a bird from Xorthern Territoiy and North Queens- 

 land (Gulf of Carpentaria), U'. iii. alexaiidrac. The male differs 

 from the dominant form in having the radiated breast markings 

 extending practically right down the abdomen, but the greatest 

 difference is in the females. The gular patch of JJ\ m. melanura 

 is snowy-white, as are also the centres of the breast feathers 

 with their bright red edges, but in W. in. alexandrae the throat 

 and upper breast are a dingy or greyish-white, as are also the 

 centres of .the breast feathers. The ear coverts of W. m. alex- 

 andrae are brownish-black with white shaft stripes, but in FP. 

 m. uielanura the ear-covert striations are of buff. 



Climacteris melanota. The Black Tree-Creeper. — Range. — 

 Queensland. Type locality. — Nassau River (Gulf of Carpen- 

 taria). Frecjuents open forest country, particularly near water- 

 courses. Nest and Eggs. — Undescribed. The Black Tree-creeper 

 was procured in Latitude 15° 57' south, on the eastern side 

 of the Gulf of Carpentaria, during Dr. Leichardt's expedition 

 from Moreton Bay to Port Essington. It was one of the birds 

 procured by poor Gilbert on the day of his death, June 28th, 

 1843. Practically nothing has been added to its life history 

 since Gilbert discovered it, and of its nidification we are 

 ignorant. 



Air. F. L. Berney, of the Richmond district of North Queens- 

 land, remarked that "The loud 'spink-spink' of the Climacteris is 

 to be heard fairly frequently among the river timber . . ." 

 "This species has a peculiar cheesy or mouse-trap smell ; it is 

 most curious, and strikes one as soon as the bird is handled." 

 Messrs. A. J. Campbell and H. G. Barnard observed specimens 

 on the Kirrama tableland. 



Dr. MacGillivray saw the birds "in scattered pairs in the 

 forest on the Archer River." Mr. Gregory Mathewsf recorded 

 a sub-species as U'hitlocka melanotus barroni. "It differs from 

 ir. ni. melanotus in its larger size, wing 96 m. m. : birds from 

 Normanton have a wing-measurement of 85-90 m.m." The 

 female differs from the dominant form in being greyer on the 

 under-surface. In the "H. L. White Collection," there are skins 



* "Ibis" 1909, p. 664. 



t Austral Avian Record. Vol. II., p. 131. 



