232 AsHBY, Collecting Trip in Lower North of S.A. [zi^Trii 



trip. I expected to meet with A . nielanops, as T have skins from 

 localities not much further north, but none was identified. 



Three species of Maluriis were met with in this belt of timber 

 or in the low bushes immediately adjoining the belt of large 

 timber. 



Malurus melanotus whitei,* Campbell. — Only one specimen (a fine 

 male) was seen and secured. We were informed that it used to build 

 in a thick Cbox thorn Y) hedge, now destroyed. Nearly the whole of 

 the scrub has been cleared throughout the district, so it is not likely 

 to be long before this lovely Wren is extinct. 



Malurus ('assimilis^ lamberti morgani, White. Southern Blue- 

 breasted Wren. — Was very numerous. The male birds obtained 

 showed the crown of the head almost entirely blue, whereas the 

 majority of specimens in my collection, obtained further south, have 

 a good deal of black or blackish coloration on the crown : but it is 

 possible that this is due to the perfect plumage of the specimen 

 obtained here. 



Malurus cyanotus, Gould. White-winged Wren. — A considerable 

 number of these were seen, but it was most difficult to obtain males, 

 thej^ were so shy. They were only noted in the low bushes where 

 the creek had overflowed the flat. Most of the mobs had two or three 

 males, and on several occasions the former species was in company 

 with them, the two species going about in the same mob. The 

 female bird has a curious little tremulous song, quite distinct from the 

 stronger notes of Malurus cyaneus leggei, Mat. A few days later we 

 again met with this species in large numbers near Nackara, on the 

 eastern side of the Flinders Range, some 80 miles further east, in 

 " blue-bush " country. While we thought it possible that we saw 

 Malurus leuconotus, we did not obtain any specimens. 



Poodytes (Megalurus) gramineus dubius, Mat. Little Grass-Bird. — 

 A nest in " polignum " bush was found with a clutch of freshly-laid 

 eggs. The bird is considerably darker in plumage than specimens 

 obtained on the River Murray swamps — a curious reversing of the 

 usual order. As far as we could judge, there is very little country 

 in the district suited to the habits of this bird. The nest had not 

 the usual Coots' feathers, probably because Coots are unknown in 

 the locality. 



Smicrornis brevirostris viridescens. Mat. Greenish Tree-Tit. — Was 

 numerous in patches of scrub near Port Germein. 



* Malurus whitei, Campbell (Emu, vol. i., p. 65). — Several ornithologists 

 have considered the above a good species, and the careful comparison of 

 the material in my hands supported this contention, but I have since writing 

 the foregoing had an opportunity of examining seven more specimens of M . 

 callainus, GUI., in Capt. S. A. White's collection. I find that some of the 

 specimens collected on the west side of Spencer Gulf and the Gawler 

 Ranges so closely approach the Port Germein (east side of the gulf) form 

 that they are not separable. Those specimens of M. callainus collected in 

 the Everard and Musgrave Ranges show more purple in the throat and a 

 deeper blue in the abdomen. The larger material suggests a transition into 

 deeper and more purple shades of blue as the distance from Spencer Gulf 

 becomes greater, and therefore Campbell's M. whitei must stand as a 

 synonym of M. callainus, Gld. 



