INSESSORES. 333 



Sp.l96. MALURUS MELANOCEPHALUS, Vig. andJIorsf. 



Black-headed Superb Warbler. 



Scarlet-hacked Warbler, Lewin, Birds of New Holl., pi. xiv. 



Malurus melanocephalus, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. 



p. 222. 

 brownii, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 223. 



Malurus melanocephalus, Gould, Birds of Australia, fol., vol. iii. 

 pi. 26. 



The Black-headed Superb Warbler, which probably inhabits 

 all the south-eastern portion of Australia, is a local species, 

 not being generally diffused over the face of the country, like 

 several other members of the group, but confined to grassy 

 ravines and gullies, particularly those that lead down from the 

 mountain-ranges. I obtained several pairs of adult birds in 

 very fine plumage in the valleys under the Liverpool range, all 

 of which I discovered among the high grasses which there 

 abound ; but as the period of my visit was their breeding- 

 season, I never observed more than a pair together, each pair 

 being always stationed at some distance from the other, and 

 in such parts of the gullies as were studded with small clumps 

 of scrubby trees. 



This Superb Warbler has many actions in common with 

 the M. cyaneus, and like that species carries its tail erect : it 

 also frequently perches on a stem of the most prominent 

 grasses, where it displays its richly-coloured back, and pours 

 forth its simple song. I did not succeed in finding the nest, 

 although I knew they were breeding around me : it was pro- 

 bably placed among the grasses, but was so artfully concealed 

 as to completely baffle my research. 



One might suppose the greater development of feather on 

 the back of this species to have been given it as a defence 

 against the damp and dense grasses of the ravines, among 

 which it usually resides ; but from the circumstance of the 

 female not possessing this character of plumage, and the rich 



