138 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. XXVI. 



DESCRIPTION OF A NEW GENUS AND SPECIES OF 

 HONEY-EATER FROM WESTERN AUSTRALIA. 



By Alfred J. North, C.M.Z.S., Ornithologist to the 



Australian Museum, Sydney.* 



{Read before the Field Naturalists' Olub of Victoria, 13th Dec, 1909.) 



Mention has been previously made, in the September number of 

 this publication, of a small collection of birds sent by Mr. Henry 

 L. White, of Belltrees, Scone, New South Wales, to the Curator 

 of the Australian Museum, Sydney, for determination, and from 

 which I there described a new species under the name of 

 Acanthiza whitlocki. Among this collection, formed by Mr. F. 

 L. Whitlock at Lake Way, in the East Murchison District, 

 Western Australia, was a single skin labelled " Pseudogerygone 



, ad. male. Lake Way, East Murchison District, 19/7/09. 



F.L.W." The shape of the bill, the absence of rictal bristles, 

 and general form, however, denoted at once that it was a Honey- 

 eater. From its dull-coloured plumage I thought it possibly may 

 have been an adult female of some unknown species, and there- 

 fore applied for more specimens. These Mr. White has recently 

 received from Mr. Whitlock, and forwarded them on to the 

 Curator. They consist of two more adult males, an adult female, 

 and a nestling, obtained in the same locality. Mr. Whitlock was 

 also fortunate enough to obtain its nest and eggs. 



Lacustroica, gen. nov. 



Exposed portion of bill slightly less than half the length of 

 head, moderately straight, equal in height to breadth at nostril, 

 the culmen distinctly arched, and decurved towards the tip; tongue 

 grooved above, bifid at the tip. First primary short, the second 

 equal in length to the seventh, the almost square end of the wing 

 formed by the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth primaries, which are 

 almost equal in length. Tail about two-thirds of the length of 

 wing. Tarsi long, slender, about twice the length of bill. 



Lacustroica whitei, sp. nov. 



Adult Male. — General colour above ashy or dull greyish-brown ; 

 quills dusky brown, the outer webs of the innermost secondaries 

 like the back, those of the outer series margined around the apical 

 portion with whity-brown or ashy-white ; remainder of the quills 

 less distinctly edged on their outer webs with ashy-white ; upper 

 tail coverts like the back ; tail dark brown, the central feathers 

 indistinctly margined around their tips with dull brownish-white, 

 the remainder with a white spot at the tip of the inner web, 

 larger on the outermost feather on either side, which is of a 

 paler brown and has the outer web very narrowly edged with 

 whity-brown ; lores, forehead, crown and sides of the head, ear 

 coverts, and sides of the neck ashy dull greyish-brown, chin and 



* Contributions from the Australian Museum, by permission of the Trustees. 



