Vol. IV. 

 1904 



J MiLLlGAN, Some W. Australian and Allied Species. C i 



ACANTHOCH^RA MELLIVORA (Latham) and A. LUNULATA (Gould). 

 In my notes of the Stirling Range trip {Emu, vol. iii., part i.) 

 I mentioned that I had shot 2lX\ Acanthochcera which bore a 

 striking resemblance to A. mdlivora, by reason of the white 

 central streaks on the mantle feathers, and I then entertained 

 the notion that both species would be found on comparison to 

 be identical. Since then I have compared a number of skins 

 of the Western form with a skin of the Eastern one, with 

 the result that I find that my surmise has not been justified. 

 In the latter form the head, hind-neck, and mantle are boldly 

 streaked, while in the former the streaks are confined to the 

 mantle only. The head and hind-neck are, however, in most 

 instances minutely spotted with white. The most striking 

 differences are those mentioned by Gould — namely, the very 

 much longer bill of A. lunidata and the presence of the con- 

 spicuous tracts of glossy white feathers extending from the gape 

 over the ear coverts, along the sides of the neck. Each form 

 has the remarkable " meteoric shower " on the chest and breast. 

 I do not know of any Australian species where individual members 

 of both sexes exhibit inter sc such variations in size as in A. 

 lunulata. 



Ptilotis leilavalensis (North) vel P. carter: (Campbell). 



I recently examined four skins collected on the Yule River, 

 in the North-Western Division of this State. Three of the four 

 were males, two of the four being adult, and the remaining two, 

 judging by their light horn-coloured bills and cinnamon-yellow 

 plumage, immature birds. Mr. North, in his specific description 

 of P. leilavalensis (" Australian Museum Records," vol. ii., p. 106), 

 stated that the species might be distinguished from P. pcnicillata 

 by (inter alia) the absence of the blackish line which separated 

 the silky-white patch of feathers from the ear coverts. In the 

 Yule River mature birds I find that the blackish line is present, 

 and that in one of the immature ones the line is also present, 

 but is smoky-brown in colour. I also find that the crown of 

 the head and hind-neck of the mature birds are pale brown (as 

 the mantle), but distinctly washed with lemon-yellow, thus 

 defining a shade-line between the hind-neck and mantle. The 

 lores, forehead, sides of the head, and cheeks, and also the chin 

 and throat, are bright lemon-yellow {not olive-yellow), the bases 

 of the feathers of the last-mentioned being greyish-white. On 

 each side of chest there is a patch of feathers of the same colour 

 as the mantle and connecting with it. These patches are, in turn, 

 connected by an obscure band across the breast of a paler brown, 

 and diffusely marked with pale yellow and greyish white, similar 

 in pattern to the same part of P. sonora. Mr. North does not 

 make any mention in his description of these brown chest-patches 

 or of the breast-band, consequently I am inclined to think, for 

 that reason and owing to the differences above specified, that 

 the Yule River birds and P. leilavalensis are not identical. After 

 examining Gould's coloured plate of P. flavescens and the letter- 



