MELLOH—New Scrub Wren. 48 



W.A., l!)th Seiiteinbei-, 11(00, when a male was secured. From 

 the size, colour, and habits, IMr. Wliith^ck thou<i;ht it to be a 

 Ps('ii(J()(/<ri/!/<ni<- but Mr. A. J. North of the Sydney museum, 

 TO whom tlic skin was shown, i»ronounced it to l)e a honey- 

 eater and asked for more material. Several others were taken 

 by Mr. Whitlock in the same year, and Mr. North described it 

 as a new joenus and species viz. : — Lacustroica whitei, after 

 Mr. White's son Alfred. A full account ai)peared in the 

 •January issue of the Victorian Naturalist, vol. XX\'l., j) D'.S, 

 and in the lOmu. vol IX., a coloured plate foinied the frontis- 

 piece, but in the i)rocess of ])rintino; in more than one colour, 

 the birds hei-e de]»icted showed a slioht yellowish tiuije, 

 especially on the winj^s, which is not correct and somewhat 

 misleading. Tt is interestino- to note that the first bird shot 

 by Mr. ^^']litlo(•k was exhibited in Adelaide at a meeting' of the 

 '"R.A.O.T^. dui-iuii the ninth con,i>ress session on Se])tend>er oOth, 

 100!>, and that a second specimen had not been exhibited here 

 until Mr. Mellor's bird was sliown on February 25th, 11I21, 

 beinj; moi-e than eleven years later. The little bird is very sombre 

 in a]>i)eiirance for a honey eater, the predoniinatinji' coloui! 

 bein<i- that of a mouse sirey, and ligliter a;rev l>eneath. 



Mew Scrub Wren. 



(ivey Scrub NN'ren { Scriconii.s iiKiciilntd (fcrdldfoiiciiis ) . 

 Subsp. n. (J. W. ^tellor). 



\>'liile investij»atin<2,- the bird life of Geraldton and the 

 s>iurroundin<>' districts in Novembei', 11)20, in connection with 

 the visit of the Royal Australasian ()rnitholoj;ists' Union, 11)20 

 Tonj^ress to Western Australia, I found that the spotted, scrub 

 wrens (Srricornis) were quite different from those of the south 

 western ])arts of Western Australia, where quite different condi- 

 tions f>revail. the habitat of the northern bird beinji, hot and dry, 

 while that of the south-western bird is tree covered and conse- 

 quently shady and moist. I am therefore separatin<»- the 

 northern bii-d and placinji' it in a sub-specific rank to be 

 known as the ixrey scrub wren i Scricoiiiis nutculuta. (jcr((l& 

 lotiriisis ) . 



Locality — (iieialdton district, Western Australia. 



Type Locality — -Sand dunes along the seacoast near (Jerald- 

 ton. Western Australia. 



Differs from S. macvhitd of the southern forest country, 

 inasmuch as it is of a lijjhter colour throughout and j>reyer 



