120 On Two new Species of Aaslralian Birds. 



diflercuccs from Alcyone pusilla, m liis ' Catalogue of the 

 Australian Birds iu the Australian ^Museum' *. 



I wish also to point out a new genus of Australian birds, 

 whieh I propose to call Tricliodere. 



AVhen Gould cliaracterized PtllAis cockerelli in the 

 ' Annals & Magazine of Natural History ' in 1869, he 

 remarked : — " Although I have placed this beautiful new 

 species in the genus Ptilolis, I am by no means certain that 

 I ara correct in so doing, for the bird possesses characters 

 which ally it to at least thrte genera, namely Siiymaiops, 

 MeViphaga, and PtUotis, while it possesses characters peculiar 

 to itself to demand a distinct generic appellation." 



Theie are specimens of this bird in the Australian Museum 

 obtained by the late JNIr. J. A. Thorpe, who was with 

 Cockerell at Cape York in 1867-8. Recently Dr. W. 

 Macgillivray, of Broken Hill, South-western New South 

 Wales, has forwarded to me a nest and eggs of this species, 

 together with the skins of the birds shot therefrom. They 

 were procured by his collector, ]Mr. W. ]\IcLennan, near 

 the Jardine River, Cape York Peninsula. Mr. McLennan 

 states that this biid, in habits, notes_, and nidification (nesting 

 within a few feet of the ground), is a Glycypliilu. The nest, 

 however, a very scanty, wiry cup-shaped structure, is 

 totally unlike those of the Australian members of this 

 genus, which are thick-Availed and compactly built, and of 

 a dome-shape. Moreover, as Gould has pointed out, this 

 bird " possesses characters peculiar to itself to demand a 

 distinct generic appellation," While differing in minor 

 characters from Glycyphila, Meliornis, and PtUotis, it may 

 be readily distinguished from these and every other genus of 

 the family j\Ieliphagid?e, by the hair-like appearance of the 

 sides of the feathers on the throat and fore-neck. I therefore 

 purpose to distinguish it under the generic name of 



Type. 

 Trichodere PtUotis cockerelli. 



B.anye. Cape York Peninsula, Northern Queensland. 



* Cat. Buds Aiistr. Mus. pt. iv. pp. ^2-23 (1894), 



