30 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



ACANTHOCH^RA RUFIGULARIS, Gld. 



Not that this species is by any means rare, or because it is 

 new to the western colony, do I now refer to it, but to try and 

 ekicidate the point referred to by Dr. Gadow when classifying 

 this family in 1884 ("British Museum Catalogue of Birds," 

 vol. ix.) Dr. Gadow, while examining seven specimens, says 

 half of them have yellowish feathers below the cheeks, while the 

 other half have white spinous feathers in the same places, in 

 both cases independent of age or sex. In several skins I have 

 examined I find what appears to me to be four distinct stages 

 of development, including the type described by Mr. Gould, as 

 follows : — 



(a) Young male. 24/11/98. Kalgoorlie, W.A. Yellow 

 cheek feathers, uniform in colour and not spinous ; gape and 

 proximal end of bill bright yellow; forehead indistinctly scaled; 

 tail feathers margined on outer webs with olive green ; upper tail 

 coverts and general plumage feathers are edged with fulvous brown. 



(b) Male. December, 1898. Kalgoorlie, W.A. Cheek 

 feathers partly yellow, partly white, and some combined yellow 

 and white, the yellow at distal ends, all being spinous ; proximal 

 end of bill sombre yellow; forehead more scaly than in (a); 

 tail feathers not nearly so olive green as in (a), almost absent ; 

 upper tail coverts and general plumage feathers whiter than in 

 (aj. (b) Locality : Swan Hill, Victoria. This is a skin showing 

 the same disposition of the colours and texture of the cheek 

 feathers as in the above specimen from Western Australia. 



(c) Male. 8/10/96. Swan Hill, Vict. Cheek feathers white 

 and spinous ; proximal end of bill browner than in (a) and (b) ; 

 forehead scaly ; tail feathers without olive green ; upper tail 

 coverts and general plumage are edged with a more distinct 

 white than in (b). 



(d) The adult skin as figured by Gould, and showing a larger 

 bird than in the three stages above. 



In (a), (b), (c), (d) the dimensions are progressive, the 

 differences between (a) and (d) being conspicuous. 



I have not been able to secure enough specimens to satisfy 

 the query of Dr. Gadow " that the yellowish feathers below the 

 cheeks, as well as the whites in the same region, are independent 

 of age," but I can trace, as above, the conspicuous feathers below 

 the cheeks to be soft and yellow in the young, to be partly yellow 

 and in part white in the immature bird, the yellow being the 

 softer in texture, while in the adult the feathers in this same 

 posiuon are white and spinous. Skin (a) agrees with Mr. Camp- 

 bell's A. Jtavacanthus exhibited here this evening, while the two 

 skins (b), one from Western Australia, the other from Victoria, 

 connect (a) and A. fiavacantJms with the adult of A. rufigidaris 

 through (c) above. 



