THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 29 



DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF THE GENUS 



MALURUS. 



By Alfred J. North, C.M.Z.S., 



Ornithologist, Australian Museum, Sydney. 



Malurus assimilis, sp. nov. 



Adult male. — Forehead, crown, and sides of the head purplish- 

 blue, passing into a rich cobalt on the feathers round the eye and 

 the ear-coverts ; sides of the neck and a collar on the hind-neck 

 velvety-black ; mantle and upper portion of the back purplish- 

 blue ; lower portion of the back and rump velvety-black ; 

 scapulars chestnut-red ; wings brown, the quills narrowly edged 

 externally with brownish-white ; tail dull blue, all but the two 

 central feathers tipped with white ; a triangular-shaped mark in 

 front of the eye, the cheeks, throat, and upper portion of the 

 breast deep black, the feathers on the sides of the breast tipped 

 with deep purplish-blue ; remainder of the under surface dull 

 white, slightly tinged with pale brownish-buff on the flanks and 

 under tail coverts ; thighs brown ; bill black ; legs and feet dark 

 fleshy-brown ; iris dark brown. Total length, 5 inches ; wing, 

 1.9; tail, 2.8; bill, 0.35; tarsus, 0.8. 



Adult female. — General colour above brown ; wings brown, 

 the quills narrowly edged externally with brownish-white ; tail 

 dull blue ; lores and a narrow circle of feathers round the eye 

 rich chestnut ; cheeks, sides of the neck, and all the under surface 

 dull white washed with fulvous, paler on the throat ; sides of the 

 breast and flanks fulvous-brown ; bill reddish-brown ; legs and 

 feet dark fleshy-brown ; iris dark brown. 



Habitat. — Gulf of Carpentaria, inland portions of Queensland, 

 New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia, Central Aus- 

 tralia. 



Types. — In the Australian Museum, Sydney. 



I purpose distinguishing this species by the vernacular name of 

 Purple-backed Superb Warbler. 



A nest of this bird in the Museum collection, taken by the late Mr. 

 K. H. Bennett at Mossgiel, New South Wales, in October, 1885, is 

 a dome-shaped structure, with a narrow entrance near the top ; out- 

 wardly it is formed of fine silvery-white dried grasses and flowering 

 plant stalks, the inside being slightly lined at the bottom with plant 

 down. Externally it measures 5 inches in height by 3 in width, 

 and across the entrance i inch. It was built in a Needle Bush, 

 Hakea leucoptera, at a height of 5 feet from the ground, and 

 contained three eggs. The eggs are oval in form, the shell being 

 close-grained and its surface smooth and lustreless. They are of 

 a dull-white ground colour, which is sprinkled over with dots, 

 spots, and blotches of faint pinkish-red, the markings predominat- 

 ing, as usual, on the larger end. Length — {a) 0.62 x 0.5 inch; 



