2 26 Milugan, Notes on a Trip to the Wongan Hills, W.A. [ 2n f April 



better chance of surviving. Two of the birds shot were fledglings. 

 I saw another adult bird entering a hollow in a salmon gum 

 with food in its mouth, evidently for its young. 



One of the novelties obtained during the expedition was that 

 of the Western form of Ptilotis leiicotis. The first specimen was 

 shot by a member of the party on the Hills, and at first sight 

 I pronounced it, but with reservation, to be Ptilotis leucotis, 

 although it appeared to be much smaller and not so brightly 

 coloured as the Eastern form. Subsequent comparison showed 

 distinct modifications in structure and colour disposition, hence 

 I intend to separate it from P . leiicotis. At a later date I shot 

 a young bird in some sparse timber in one of the deep gullies in 

 the Hills. Shortly afterwards I shot, near the same spot, an 

 adult bird, evidently the parent bird of the former. At the 

 time I was surprised to see it running agilely up the trunk of a 

 tree, extracting, as it ran, insects from the bark crevices. Its 

 pace was quite as quick as that of a Tree-creeper, but instead 

 of ascending spirally, after the manner of that bird, it ran 

 vertically up the face of the trunk. 



Afterwards we secured many more specimens, including 

 fledglings. Objection may be taken to my elevating the new 

 bird to the rank of species. The scientific name I appropriate 

 for the new bird is Ptilotis novce-norcice ; the vernacular one 

 the Western White-eared Honey-eater. The specific description 

 is as follows : — Similar to Ptilotis leiicotis except that the hind- 

 neck, mantle, and back are greyish-olive, not rich yellowish- 

 olive, and that the remainder of the plumage is not so brightly 

 coloured. The black colour, also, is confined to the throat, sides 

 of the head, and cheeks. The white cheek-stripes are very narrow, 

 and not so conspicuous. The secondaries are brown, without 

 olive wash of the tail ; the upper pair of feathers are blackish- 

 brown, without similar, wash, and the remainder of tail feathers 

 are almost black as to one longitudinal section, as in P. leiicotis. 

 Iris dark brown ; bill black ; legs and feet greyish-black. Total 

 length, 6.5 inches; wing, 3.5; tarsus, 0.8; culmen, 0.5. Type, 

 Western Australian Museum, Perth. 



Notes from Guildford, W.A. 



By H. E. Hill. 



On first seeing this district, with two rivers — the Helena and 

 the Swan — innumerable swamps, and the Darling Ranges 

 (granite) close by, I expected to find a large number and variety 

 of birds. This expectation, however, was doomed to disappoint- 

 ment, as birds of all kinds were scarce except in a few favoured 

 patches. It is hard to say why this should be so, but it is 

 certainly not due to any scarcity of food. 



As I was not often able to get out into the field, my notes 

 are of the briefest. A complete list might include about 120 



