176 



Howe, The Acunthiztp or Tii-Warbler^. 



r Emu 



L. 3th Jan 



' Voyage de I' Astrolabe ' in Australian waters, 1826-29, under 

 the command of Capt. M. J. Dumont d'Urville. The precise 

 locality where the type was obtained is not recorded in the original 

 description, but, with the exception of the extreme northern and 

 north-western portions of the continent, it is distributed in favour- 

 able situations throughout most parts of Australia and Tasmania. 

 Specimens obtained by Mr. George Masters at King George's 

 Sound, and by Mr. Edwin Ashby near Perth, Western" Australia, 

 have the crown of the head darker and the upper surface paler 

 than Eastern examples. Specimens from Tasmania are larger 

 and richer in colour, while those from Central Australia have that 



Nest of Acaytthiza chrysorvhna in a fence. 



PHOTO, BY H. J, BENNETT, N«NNEELLA ESTATE. 



faded and washed-out appearance common to many species 

 inhabiting hot and arid districts. The type locality, according to 

 Mathews, is New South Wales and South Queensland. He adds 

 seven sub-species, and names the Victorian bird G. c. sandlandi. 

 I have found this bird from Gippsland to the far north-western 

 Mallee districts. At Parwan, near Bacchus Marsh, it is exceedingly 

 plentiful, and in August and September its large, bulky nest 

 (made mostly of wool in grazing country) is to be seen in almost 

 every other sheoak tree (Casuarina). During one season Mr. 

 J. A. Ross found several sets of five eggs and one clutch of seven. 

 In Gippsland the eggs are usually pure white, but on the open 

 northern plain country they are invariably speckled with laint 



