INSESSORES. 297 



Sp. 178. EOPSALTRIA CAPITO, Gould. 



Large-headeu Robin. 

 Eoj)saltria capita, Gould in Proc, of Zool. Soc, part xix. p. 285. 



Eopsaltria capito, Gould, Birds of Australia, fol,, Supplement, pL 



The outer slopes of the high ranges which skirt the 

 southern and eastern coasts of Australia, at a distance of from 

 forty to sixty miles from the sea, have in the course of time 

 changed into a soil so rich and deep as to be favourable, not 

 only to the growth of the largest kinds of Eucalypti, but to 

 magnificent cedars, fig-trees, and palms of two or three 

 species. Favoured by an aspect which commands the rays of 

 the sun, and by humidity from the sea, the vegetation here 

 becomes of that dense and peculiar character technically known 

 in New South Wales by the name of Brushes ; these districts 

 are tenanted by a bird-life equally peculiar; so that the 

 fauna of the brushes is as distinct from that of the plains as 

 if hundreds of miles of sea rolled between. The unobtrusively 

 coloured bird here described is a native of the brushes of 

 the south-east coast, and is tolerably plentiful in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the Clarence, the Manning, and the Brisbane 

 rivers. Its existence was not known to me when the ' Birds 

 of Australia ' was published ; and its discovery is due to the 

 late F. Strange, who sent me several specimens, two of which 

 have been figured in the supplement to the folio edition. Its 

 habits are doubtless very similar to those of the other Eopsal- 

 trm. Like them, the sexes do not differ in colour, but the 

 female may generally be distinguished by her somewhat smaller 

 size. 



Upper surface olive-green, inclining to brown on the head ; 

 wings and tail slaty-brown, faintly margined with olive-green ; 

 ear-coverts grey ; lores, a line below the eye, and the throat 

 greyish white \ under surface yellow ; irides hazel ; bill black ; 

 feet brownish flesh-colour. 



Total length 5 inches ; bill f ; wing 3J ; tail 2^ ; tarsi f . 





