52 LETTER FROM MR. E. P. RAMSAY. [Jail. 23, 



because these differences do not exist in all the specimens I have 

 examined from those parts. Nevertheless I must acknowledi;;e that in 

 most of the Port-Phillip specimens these bars on the two tail-feathers 

 are more defined and of a deeper tint than 1 have observed in the 

 New-South-Wales specimens. But this I attribute in a great mea- 

 sure to the age of the birds, and also of the tail itself; for an old tail 

 always ap})ears to me to be darker in tint than one freshly grown. 

 I noticed this fact last year, when 1 examined some fifty specimens, 

 and found that the most perfect tails were lightest in colour, and, 

 moreover, that the two outside tail-feathers were the last to obtain 

 their full length. This may in some way account for Mr. Gould's 

 remark respecthig the ' diminished length ' of these feathers in his 

 Port-Phillip specimens ; for when fully grown, in all my specimens 

 from the same locality, these feathers are of the same average length, 

 and bear the same proportion to the rest of the tail-feathers as those 

 of the New-South-Wales birds. 



"The South-Australian variety, then, differs upon the whole in 

 being of a shghtly darker tint, and in having the bars of the two 

 outer tail-feathers more defined, especially at the base, and of a 

 deeper colour than is usually found in New-South-Wales speci- 

 mens. This darker tint of colour is also visible in the tails of the 

 females. If such slight differences are considered by ornithologists 

 to be specific, no more ajipropriate name could be found for the 

 South-Australian bird than that chosen by Mr. Gould {Menura 

 victories). 



"With respect to the Menura alberti, I am afraid that I can 

 add but little to the very complete account of it already given by Mr. 

 Gould in his ' Handbook to the Birds of Australia.' We met with 

 it on two occasions only during last year's visit to the Richmond 

 River. So shy and distrustful was this species, that a passing glance 

 and a random shot were all we could get in either instance, which, 

 nevertheless, obtained us two fine sjjecimens. One, a young female (?), 

 shot on the 9th of November, and which I take to be about six 

 months old, had still a large tuft oi' down on the chest ; all the uj)per 

 surface (except the back of the head and neck, which are dark 

 brown) is of a deep rufous ; front of the head, throat, underside of 

 neck, and the upper and under tail-coverts are of a deep bright ru- 

 fous ; the chest is covered with dense, short, stiff', downy feathers of 

 a dull-brown colour ; all the under surface, excej)t the centre of the 

 breast and abdomen, which are light brown, is of a sandy buff; tail 

 dark brown underneath, each feather tipped with rufous. Total 

 length 23 niches, tail 14-12, bill Iv, along the ridge 1-4, width at 

 base '6, height '5, tarsi 4 inches; hind toe 1-4, its claw r.5 ; second 

 toe 1-9, its claw I '2 ; third toe 2- 1, its claw 1-1 ; fourth toe i'?, its 

 claw 1 inch. Bill, legs, and claws black." 



Mr. Gould made some comments upon Mr. Ramsay's paper, in 

 the course of which he remarked that any additional information 

 respecting the birds forming the genus Menura must be of the highest 

 interest to physiologists as well as to ornithologists. The ano- 



