Vol. XIV. 

 191S 



White, Notes upon Astur cvuentus. 



155 



opinion until he handled Gould's type-skin in the Philadelphia 

 Museum. He now writes from England to the effect that he 

 has examined the type-skin, and finds it to be the common bird 

 of Western Australia, and not the rare bird mentioned by Mr. 

 North, as referred to above. Skins forwarded to me by Mr. 

 H. G. Barnard from the Macarthur River, Northern Territory, 

 were identified by Mr. Mathews as Urospiza fasciata didima 

 (Mathews). These same skins, upon comparison with those 

 mentioned by Mr. North and in the Australian Museum, are 

 found to be slightly different ; it is evident, therefore, that if Mr. 

 North's bird is neither U. f. didima nor U. f. cruenta it must be 

 either a freak or a new sub-species. 



I am unable to say whether Urospiza fasciata didima is un- 

 common throughout the whole of North Australia, but the birds 

 are fairly plentiful on the Macarthur River, where Mr. H. G. 

 Barnard secured several skins and clutches of eggs ; one of the 

 latter I claim to be the type, and describe it elsewhere in the 

 present issue of The Emu. It is now evident that Mr. Mathews, 

 in his latest list (1913) has placed the distribution of the species 

 correctly as follows : — 



Urospiza fasciata fasciata. — Eastern Australia. 



Urospiza fasciata cruenta. — Western Australia. 



Urospiza fasciata didima. — Northern Territory and North-West 

 Australia. 



Unfortunately, I have not the measurements of a female 

 specimen of Mr. North's rare bird, but the undermentioned 

 measurements of male skins of the species may be of interest : — 



The above, taken in conjunction with the following measure- 

 ments of female specimens, should, I think, go a long way towards 

 proving Mr. Mathews's contention to be correct : — 



