88 Howe, Observations on the Genus Hylacola. rTsf"oct 



These birds are strictly terrestrial in habits, but on occasions 

 are seen in the lower branches of small trees or other thick bush, 

 but always within a few feet of the ground. They are, prac- 

 tically speaking, entirely insectivorous. 



Adult Male. — General colour above brown, with a rufescent 

 olive tinge, which is more pronounced on the lower back and 

 rump ; upper tail coverts pale chestnut ; wings like the back ; 

 inner webs of the quills brown, the apical half of the outer webs 

 of the primaries externally edged with ashy-brown, their bases 

 dull whitish, which is almost entirely concealed by the brown 

 primary coverts ; tail feathers brown, tinged with rufescent olive, 

 and all but the central pair crossed by a subterminal black band 

 and tipped with ashy-brown ; a spot in front of the eye dusky- 

 brown ; a distinct line extending from the nostril over the eye 

 whitish ; ear coverts brown, with white shaft lines ; under surface 

 of the body dull white, each feather, except on the centre of the 

 abdomen, with a longitudinal streak of blackish-brown down the 

 centre ; under tail coverts chestnut ; thighs brown ; bill dark 

 brown ; legs and feet flesh colour tinged with grey ; irides hazel. 

 Total length in the flesh, 5.5 inches ; wing, 2.15 ; tail, 2.35 ; bill, 

 0.45 ; tarsus, 0.8. 



Adult Female. — Similar in plumage to the male, but has all the 

 under surface pale buff and less distinctly streaked, the dark 

 brown centres being narrower, shorter, and not extending to near 

 the tips of the feathers ; centre of the abdomen whitish. 



Immature birds are without the striping on the throat and 

 breast, and, instead, nearly the whole of the under surface has a 

 rufescent wash, particularly on the throat and upper breast. 



This bird appears to be nowhere more plentiful than in the 

 coastal scrubs between the Hawkesbury River and Wollongong 

 districts of New South Wales, and Vigors and Horsfield's type 

 {Acanthiza pyrrhopygia) was probably secured near Sydney. Its 

 range must also be extended to Victoria, as one skin collected by 

 Mr. A. G. Campbell on the Murray River during 1904 is un- 

 doubtedly referable to this sub-species, and not to the allied form, 

 H. p. belcheri. Another skin, collected by Mr. Campbell during 

 April, IQ04, is a female, and the locality (Lethbridge) is only 

 about 50 miles from the place where I obtained H. p. belcheri. 

 This skin is perplexing. In size it is much larger than H. p. 

 pyrrhopygia, and has the same rufescent colouring on the throat, 

 breast, and flanks of the female of that bird, whereas in the 

 female skin of H. p. belcheri this colouring is missing, and the 

 skins were collected in the same month. In the last issue of The 

 Emu (vol. xvi., part 3, p. 161), Mr. H. L. White, referring to some 

 of the birds of the Cobbora district of New South Wales, says : — 

 " It may not be out of place to mention here that the Cobborah 

 Estate is 160 miles in a direct line inland from the nearest point 

 (Newcastle) ^on the New South Wales coast, and to the west of 

 the Dividing Range. The countr}^ generally is open forest and 



