370 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



succeeded in killing both sexes, and found that they exhibit 

 no outward difference, and are only to be distinguished with 

 certainty by dissection. 



All the upper surface and wings olive-brown, the feathers 

 of the forehead margined with buff; wings brown with pale 

 edges ; throat white, each feather margined with black ; 

 abdomen whitish; flanks pale buff; upper tail-coverts rufous; 

 tail olive, crossed by a broad band of black, and tipped on the 

 outer webs with pale olive, on the inner webs with white; 

 bill blackish brown, under mandible somewhat lighter ; feet 

 brown ; irides reddish brown. 



Total length 4 inches ; bill ^ ; wing 2 ; tail If ; tarsi f . 



Sp. 225. ACANTHIZA INORNATA, Gould. 



Plain-coloured Acanthiza. 



Acanthiza inornata, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc, part viii. p. 171. 

 Djo-hul-djo-hul, Aborigines of the lowland districts of "Western Aus- 

 tralia. 



Acanthiza inornata, Gould, Birds of Australia, fol., vol. iii. pi. 59. 



Although neither elegant in form nor characterized by any 

 beauty of plumage, the present little bird demands as much 

 of our attention as any other species of the group. Its true 

 habitat seems to be the south-western parts of Australia, for 

 it is numerously dispersed over the colony of Swan River ; it 

 is equally abundant at King George's Sound ; and as I killed 

 specimens on the small low islands at the mouths of Spencer's 

 and St. Vincent's Gulfs, it is most probable that its range 

 extends all along the coast between those localities. Inde- 

 pendently of its plainer colourhig, the truncated form of its 

 tail serves at once to distinguish it from the Acanthiza 

 apicalis, with which it is often seen in company ; unlike the 

 latter bird however it does not erect its tail, but carries it in 

 a line with the body. 



Its note is a little feeble song somewhat resembling that of 



