30 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



(b) 0.63 X 0.5 inch ; (c) 0.65 x 0.47 inch. A set taken by Mr. James 

 Ramsay at Tyndarie measures — (a) 0.62 x 0.5 inch ; (b) 0.66 x 

 0.47 inch; (c) 0.65 x 0.47 inch. 



The above-described species belongs to that section of the 

 genus Malurus in which the adult males are distinguished by 

 their chestnut slioulders, and is more closely allied to M. 

 lamberti. For a number of years past it has been known 

 that the inland form of M. lamberti differs in colour from typical 

 specimens obtained near the eastern coast of Australia. More 

 than a quarter of a century ago Dr. Ramsay pointed out that the 

 New South Wales birds differed in the tint of colouring from 

 those procured in South Australia.* Subsequently Mr. George 

 Masters made reference to two specimens obtained by Mr. K. 

 Broadbent at the Gulf of Carpentaria, and stated that it may 

 prove to be a distinct species, but for the present (at that time) he 

 looked upon it as a local variety of M. lamberti.f These differences 

 in colour have recently been brought more prominently under my 

 notice while working at the Maluri, and on comparing a series 

 from widely separated parts of the continent. Adult males from 

 the Gulf of Carpentaria, Western Queensland, Western New 

 South Wales, North-Western Victoria, and the inland portions of 

 South Australia, hitherto recognized under the name of Malurus 

 lamberti, may at once be distinguished, when compared with 

 typical examples of that species, in having the crown and sides of 

 the head purplish-blue instead of deep cobalt ; moreover, the 

 feathers round the eye and the ear-coverts are rich cobalt instead 

 of turquoise-blue, and the mantle and upper portion of the back 

 purplish-blue instead of cobalt-blue. In the colour of these parts 

 the species here characterized by me under the name of Malurus 

 assimilis more closely resembles M. pulcherrimus. Both 

 Western Australian representatives of this section of the genus, 

 however, M. pulcherrimus and M. elegans, are widely separated 

 from M. lamberti and its allies in having the throat and upper 

 portion of the breast dark blue instead of black. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE WHITE-BELLIED THICK- 

 HEAD (FEMALE). 



By Robert Hall. 



The distinguishing characters of the female of the White-bellied 

 Thickhead, Pachycepha/a lanioides, Gould, have not, as far as I 

 am aware, appeared in print, and as two skins of this bird have 

 recently been received from Mr. J. P. Rogers, of Derby, North- 

 west Australia, I take the opportunity of recording a description 



* Proc. Zool. Soc. 1 875, p. 589. 



+ Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., vol. i., p. 53 (1876). 



