l62 Campbell, The Small-billed Til-Warbler. [„f'jan. 



nical description : * and from the Mallee district, Victoria, as A. 

 winiamida, F. E. Wilson {Emu, xvi., p. 169). 



The birds (o and $), viewed left and right, in the plate referred 

 to, were thoughtfully sent to the Union by its member, Mr. F. E. 

 Parsons, of Adelaide, and were mounted by Mr. J. E. Chubb, 

 of the National Museum, where the specimens will remain. In 

 addition to Capt. White's valuable field observations on the 

 species, Mr. Parsons' own observations appear in the South 

 Australian Ornithologist, iv., p. 51. The type of A. winiamida 

 is also in the National Museum, while the " H. L. White Col- 

 lection " contains good material of the species from W'estern 

 Australia, which, seemingly, is there the lighter-coloured race.f 



Should the genus Geobasileus be retained for the species, the 

 original specific name, tenuirostris, Zietz {Trans. Roy. Soc. S.A., 

 xxiv., p. 112), would remain, as there is no " pre-occupation " as 

 under Acanthiza, which Mr. Mathews has pointed out {Bull. 

 B.O.C., xxvii., p. 97). Capt. White could possibly cHnch this 

 subject by examining the types (two) in the South Australian 

 Museum, which, according to Mr. A. Zietz, were collected by 

 R. M. Hawker at Leigh's Creek, August, 1895. However, if the 

 types be not available, the late Mr. A. J. North has re-described 

 them in the " Special Catalogue No. i (Nests and Eggs, vol. i., 

 p. 281) " of the Australian Museum, Sydney. 



W^hile on the subject of coloured plates, I may refer to another 

 Acanthiza figured for the first time {Emu, vol. xvi., pi. ^^), which 

 Capt. White has described (p. 158) and named ^4. mariancc. 



Mr. F. E. Howe, in the same volume (p. 175, footnote) draws 

 attention to the species as possibly being A. robustirostris, 

 Milligan, Emu, iii., p. 71. Reference to the material in the 

 " H. L. W^hite Collection " proves that there are good grounds for 

 Mr. Howe's suspicions, because specimens respectively of mariance 

 from Everard Ranges, S.A., and robustirostris from the Mur- 

 chison, W.A., appear to be identical, and therefore the former 

 is not " most closely allied," as Capt. Wliite suggests, to a variety 

 of A. uropygialis (Gould), but is distinctly another species, and, 

 according to MatheM'S, another genus — Milligania. 



Notes on Sea^Birds. 



By M.\jor (Dr.) W. Macgillivkay, late President R.A.O.U. 

 These notes arc the result of observations made daily on my 

 way to England on a troopship in 1917, and on my return to Aus- 

 tralia in 1919. Those of most interest to Australians deal with 

 the Petrels and Albatrosses seen on the return voyage, between 



* Same " List," p. 219. 



f Under the name A. tenuirostris, Mr. S. W. Jackson has described from 

 the Belltrees collection the nest and eggs from Western Australia. One 

 significant fact in connection with the former is that it "was found suspended 

 from the topmost twigs of a low samphire bush." ( Vide Emu, ix., p. 136.) By 

 the way, Samphire or Swamp Tit-Warbler would be a distinctive vernacular 

 name for the species. 



