154 



ings. Four clutches, taken from nests built near our camp, which 

 were frequently visited during building and laying, and about 

 which there is not the least doubt, diifer thus : — No. 1 Clutch — 

 Heavily freckled with light-red on white ground, elongated oval 

 in shape. No. 2 Clutch — Much smaller than the above, slightly 

 spotted at the larger end with small black spots on white ground, 

 short, swollen, oval in shape. No. 3 Clutch — Sparingly marked 

 with large dark-brown spots on white ground, oval shape. No. 

 4 Clutch — Heavily marked with dark-red, especially at the larger 

 ■end, where the ground colour is almost completely obscured. 

 Three eggs form the usual complement, but occasionally birds 

 were found sitting on two.] 



No. 47. OLIMA.CTERIS MELANURA ( Black-tailed Tree-Creeper). 



Climacteris melanura, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1842), p. 138; 

 id., Bds. Austr., foL, vol. IV., pi. 97 (1848) ; Gadow, Cat. Bds. 

 Brit. Mus., vol. VIIL, p. 334 (1883); Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. 

 N.S.W., vol. II., 2nd series, p. 169 (1887) ; North, Nests and 

 Eggs Austr. Bds., p. 239 (1889). 



Three adult males, two adult females, two immature males. 

 Camp about five miles from the junction of the Fitzroy and 

 Margaret Rivers. Gould's figures of this species in his " Birds of 

 Australia " are those of the male only. The female has the 

 throat white, and the feathers on the lower portion of it broadly 

 €dged with chestnut-red. Immature males are brownish-black 

 above and below, with narrow white streaks to the feathers on the 

 throat, and sub-terminal spots of white on the under-tail coverts ; 

 the fawn band through the centre of the wing is also of a richer 

 colour than in the adults. 



[Near the junction of the Fitzroy and Margaret Rivers these 

 birds were often seen or heard. Their notes and habits closely 

 resemble those of the well-known Brown Tree-creeper. They are 

 very shy and difficult to approach. The adult female is easily 

 distinguished by a white patch on the throat. Why this bird 

 should be named the Black-tailed Tree-creeper is difficult to 

 understand, when the term sooty or Black Tree-creeper would be 

 so much more appropriate.] 



No. 48. Phaps histrionica (Harlequin Bronze-wing). 



Columha (Peristra) histrionica, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1840), 

 p. 114. 



Peristera histrionica, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol., vol. V., pi. 6Q 

 (1848). 



Phaps histrionica, Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., vol. IL, 

 2nd series, p. 171 (1887); North, Nests and Eggs Austr. Bds 

 p. 274 (1889). 



