140 



One adult male and female. Johanna Springs. This species 

 is also distributed over the southern half of the Australian 

 Continent. The type was obtained by M. M. Quoy and Gaimard 

 on Dirk Hartog Island, Shark Bay, West Australia. 



No. 26. Malurus cruentatus (Crimson-backed Warbler). 



Malurus cruentatus, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. (18ii9), p. 143 ; 

 Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc, N.S. W., vol. I., 2nd series, p. 1,090 

 (1886); North, Nests and Eggs Austr. Bds., p. 118 (1889). 



Malurus brownii, Gould, Bds. Austr., foL, vol. III., pi. 27 

 (1848). 



Malurus dorsalis, Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., vol. IV., p. 29& 

 (1879). 



Seven adult males, two adult females. Camp about five mileS 

 from the junction of the Fitzroy and Margaret Rivers. The 

 males are of a deeper red on the backs than examples from Cairns 

 and Cape York. Similar specimens were obtained by the late 

 Mr. T. H. Bowyer-Bower. 



A nest of this species, taken from a low bush, is a dome-shaped 

 structure with an entrance near the top. It is rather loosely put 

 together, and is formed throughout of very fine dried grasses and 

 strips of white bark intermingled, with the covering of some 

 composite plant. Externally it measures two inches and a-half 

 in diameter by four inches and a-half in height. Eggs, three in 

 number, white, finely dusted with pinky-red markings over the 

 entire surface of the shell. Length (A) 0-6 x 05 inch, (B) 0-G2 

 X 41: inch, (C) 0*6 x 0*44 inch. In another set of four the 

 markings are slightly larger and are confined principally to the 

 thicker end of the egg, and in one specimen they are confluent 

 and form a well-defined zone. 



[This delicate but gorgeous little bird was first noted near the 

 junction of the Fitzroy and Margaret Rivers. Although usually found 

 in long grass and undergrowth, it occasionally resorts to the larger 

 trees, and one specimen was shot from a branch 50 feet high. It 

 is very tame, and easily approached. Unlike most species of this 

 genus, the present species usually constructs its nest some distance 

 from the ground. Those found by Mr. Wells and myself were 

 located in either what is known as the Peach-bush or Bauhinia- 

 tree, and four to ten feet from the ground. The nests are built 

 of fine dry grass, with a rather large opening near the top. The 

 clutch of eggs, three or four in number, show considerable 

 variation in colour and markings, but they have usually a fleshy- 

 white ground, more or less spotted with red, which in some 

 cases forms a zone.] 



