ON AUSTEALIAN PINCHES OF THE GENUS POfiPHILA. 95 



Note on Australian Finclies of the Genus Poephila. 

 By Captain William E. Aemit, F.L.S. 



[Read November 1, 1877.*] 



At a meeting of the Queensland Philosophical vSociety, held in 

 Brisbane on the 10th of August, 1876, Mr. S. Diggles read some 

 " Notes on new and rare Specimens of Australian Birds." 



After a few remarks, Mr. Diggles proceeds to correct an error 

 into which he asserts our great author, Mr. Grould, has fallen iu 

 relation to a beautiful genus of Finches (Poephila) — one which 

 he (Mr. Gould) had named after his own wife, P. Gouldice, turn- 

 ing out to be the female of another species, viz. P. mirabilis, Horn. 

 & Jacq. 



Mr. Diggles adduces the following testimonies in support of 

 this assertion : — 



First. The specimens which he had examined were forwarded 

 to him by Mr. Waterhouse, of the Adelaide Museum, who had re- 

 ceived them from Mr. Stapleton, the latter gentleman having 

 procured them at Palmerston, in the Northern territory of South 

 Australia. 



Mr. Stapleton thus writes concerning these birds : — " This 

 species {P. Gouldice, Gould) and P. mirabilis are gregarious the 

 most part of the year. They associate in flocks of about equal 

 numbers, live upon the same food, are precisely similar in habits, 

 have the same unmusical note, and agree well together. 1 am in- 

 clined to think they are simply varieties, and that the slight dif- 

 ference in colour is regulated by some law or cause which pre- 

 vents any further alteration.'* 



Secondly. A gentleman writing from Charters' Towers (near 

 Townsville) mentions its occurrence at that place, but states 



* [For the author's interests and the Society's credit it is right to state, that 

 while the former forwarded his MS. at the end of March 1877, it did not reach 

 Burlington House, unfortunately, until the day after the final Meeting, June 

 1877, and, in consequence, had to lie over until the commencement of the Winter 

 Session, then taking its place in publication according to order. Meanwhile 

 there has appeared a paper in the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New 

 South Wales, Tol. ii . pt. 1, p. 70, " Some further Remarks on Poephila Gouldics and 

 P. mirabilis, Hom. & Jacq.," by Mr. E. Pierson Eamsay, F.L.S. , in which this 

 gentleman discusses the question of their specific distinction, and particularly 

 refers to information received from Captain Armit. The present communi- 

 cation, however, deals with the latter's evidence more fully than that referred 

 to, having precedence of publication for the reasons given. — Editor.] 



