70 Le Souef, Description of a New Shrike-Robin. List"oct. 



Description of a New Shrike^Robin. 



By D. Le Souef, C.M.Z.S., &c., Melbourne. 



V EOPSALTRIA JACKSONI, Sp. flOV. 



Adult Male. — Total length, 5.5 to 5.7 inches ; wing, 3.45 to 

 3.5 ; tail, 2.5 to 2.7 ; bill, 0.5. General colour above uniform 

 dark olive-grey ; rump and upper tail coverts rich golden-yellow, 

 with the lower portions of the feathers just above washed with a 

 yellow tinge ; all under parts golden-yellow ; throat white ; a 

 little dark shadint^ in front of the eye ; a narrow patch on the 

 outer edge of the shoulder white ; the outer edge of the upper 

 portion of the primaries very slightly edged with grey, and the 

 tips of the secondaries also finely edged, mostly on the outer 

 edge, with light grey. On the under surface the base of the 

 primaries is well marked with white, as well as a white patch on 

 the under surface of the shoulder, separated by a dark band from 

 the white on the under surface at the base of the secondaries. 

 Tail dark olive-grey above, lighter shade below, the tips, except 

 of the centre feather, being edged with white on their inner 

 edges ; in some specimens the white tips are absent from four 

 of the centre feathers ; bill and feet black. 



Mr. R. Etheridge, Curator of the Australian Museum, Sydney, 

 kindly allowed me to compare my skins with Ramsay's type of 

 E. magnirostris in the Museum ; I did so in his presence, and 

 also in that of Mr. A. F. Basset Hull. This bird differs from 

 the type of E. magnirostris, obtained at Rockingham Bay, 

 Queensland, in having a smaller beak, more white on the throat, 

 and more yellow on the rump, the white on the shoulder not so 

 distinct, primaries not tipped with ashy-white or nearly so 

 distinctly edged with the same colour. The nest also varies, 

 and the habitat of the bird is different, E. chrysorrJious being a 

 scrub-loving bird and E. jacksoni being only found in open 

 forest and scrub country at an elevation of between 3,000 and 

 5,000 feet. 



The bird is named after Mr. Sid. W. Jackson, who obtained 

 the specimens for Mr. H. L. White, of Belltrees, Scone, N.S.W. 

 I append Mr. Jackson's field notes : — 



"I first met with this Robin on 12th November, 1908, when 

 travelling along the Herberton Range on my way to the Evelyn 

 scrubs, and at an elevation of nearly 4,000 feet above sea 

 level. The actions of this bird closely resembled those of 

 E. chrysorrhoiis. Its home appears to be the true forest country, 

 and not the dense scrubs. When flying the rich golden- yellow 

 plumage on the rump is most conspicuous. When passing the 

 face of a rocky mountain on the Herberton Range, I found a 

 nest of this bird, close to the track ; it was built on the 

 horizontal limb of a rough-barked Banksia tree, at an elevation 

 of 15 feet, and contained two young birds about three days old. 



