82 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



are the most mature birds, or if the difference in colour be 

 sexual, I have not had sufficient opportunities of ascertaining. 



Head black ; the crown, a lunar-shaped mark at the back 

 of the head, and a collar surrounding the back of the neck 

 freckled with grey; back freckled black and white; wings 

 brown, crossed by numerous bands of lighter brown freckled 

 with dark brown ; primaries margined externally wdth buff, 

 interrupted with blotchings of dark brown ; tail dark broAvn, 

 crossed by numerous broad irregular bands of reddish buff 

 freckled with dark brown ; ear- coverts straw- white ; chin, 

 abdomen, and under tail-coverts white ; breast and sides of 

 the neck white, crossed by numerous freckled bars of black ; 

 irides dark brown ; upper mandible dark olive-brown, lower 

 mandible white with a black tip ; legs very pale yellow ; claws 

 black. 



Total length, 9^ inches ; bill, 1 ; wing, 5f ; tail, 5 ; tarsi, 1. 



Genus PODARGUS, Cuvier. 



With no one group of the Australian birds have I had so 

 much difficulty in discriminating the species as Avith those of 

 the genus Fodargus. It is almost impossible to determine 

 with certainty those described by Latham ; could this have 

 been done satisfactorily, it would have greatly facilitated their 

 investigation. 



The species are much more numerous than those of the 

 genus A^gotheleSy and unlike them are not so exclusively con- 

 fined to Australia ; for although that country constitutes their 

 head-quarters, some are found in New Guinea and the adjacent 

 islands, where they unite with the Batrachostomi. 



Six species of this form were described in the folio edition ; 

 during the twenty years which have elapsed since its com- 

 pletion, two others have been discovered ; and thus we now 

 know that Australia is inhabited by eight species of these 

 large nocturnal birds to keep in check the great families of 



