1866.] MR. J. GOULD ON NEW AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 217 



3. Additions to the List of the Avifauna of Australia, with 

 Descriptions of Three New Species. By John Gould, 

 Esq., F.R.S., &c. 



The following birds have been lately transmitted to me by my 

 brother-in-law, Mr. Charles Coxen of Brisbane in Queensland, and 

 were, I believe, collected by John Jardine, Esq., late Commissioner 

 of Crown Lands in the Cape York district, a portion of Australia so 

 near to New Guinea and the Aru Islands that we need not be sur- 

 prised if some of the species prove to be identical with, or offer a 

 close resemblance to, species previously described as inhabitants of 

 those but partially explored islands. 



The first species is an additional member of those insect-loving 

 little birds known under the generic title of Geryyone, and exhibits 

 such strongly marked distinctive characters that it cannot for a 

 moment be confounded with any of its allies. 



Gerygone personata. 



Crown and all the upper surface olive-green ; throat and chest 

 deep olive-brown ; behind each nostril a spot of white ; a stripe of 

 white also descends from the base of the bill down each side of the 

 neck, and separates the deep olive-brown of the throat from the 

 lighter olive of the ear-coverts ; axillae, all the under surface of the 

 body, and the under tail-coverts delicate jonquil-yellow ; wings and 

 tail olive-brown ; bill and legs olive-black. 



Total length 3| inches, bill |, wing 2f, tail If, tarsi |. 



Hab. The Cape York district of Queensland. 



The second bird has many characters in common with the Ptilotis 

 chrysotis of the south-eastern portion of Australia and the Ptilotis 

 similis, a bird brought from Dorey by Mr. Wallace ; but it differs 

 from both in the greater slenderness of its form, in its diminutive 

 size, and, especially from the former, in the uniform colouring of its 

 throat and abdomen. 



Ptilotis gracilis. 



Bill deep olive-brown, with a naked yellow fleshy gape, posterior 

 to which is an obscure narrow line of yellow ; a well-defined patch 

 of pale yellow on the ear-coverts ; crown and all the upper surface 

 olive, the uniformity of which is only broken by a slight edging of 

 wax-yellow on the outer edges of the primaries and tail-feathers ; 

 axillae and the inner webs of the primaries and secondaries pale huffy 

 yellow ; primaries and tail-feathers brown ; feet dark olive-brown. 



Total length 5| inches, bill \, wing 2^, tail 2|, tarsi £. 



Hab. The Cape York district of Queensland. 



Monarcha albiventris. 



This Cape York bird is very nearly allied to the more southern 

 M. triviryata, but differs not only from that species, but from 

 Proc. Zool. Soc— 1866, No. XV. 



