iS7


At pages 202 and 203, vol. xiii., of the Cat. Birds Brit. Mus.,

the distinctive difference between the genera Aidemosyne and

Pi^^/Zzz'/^ is given as {o\\q\^s:— Aidemosyne: Tair graduated, the

two centre feathers longest, but not produced to a thread-like

point. Poephila : Tail not so strongly graduated, but the centre

feathers produced to a thread-like point. I have had five White-

ears and three Masks. My male Mask seems to be fully adult,

the female I have had for over fourteen mouths, and they are

both in perfect feather; when recently placed in the garden,

neither had a thread-like point to the central tail feathers,

although these were long and very narrow towards the ends.

Nor have any of the White-ears ; nevertheless it is possible that

this feature may be developed later.


Habitat, the grassy plains in the interior of North

Australia.


Before closing this paper I should like to draw attention

to the curious way in which the six recognised species in the

genus Poephila are grouped in couples, the two species forming

each couple being remarkably like to one another, but very

different from all the others. First come the handsome Long-

tailed Grassfinch, P. acuticauda, and the familiar Parson Finch,

P. cinda, with their black girdles and throat spots, surly tempers,

and rapid flight, chiefly differing from one another in the colour

of the bill and in the formation of the tail ; the sexes are alike

(I am speaking cursorily), and the young like the parents but

with black bills (vol. iii. p. 210). Then come the Masked Grass-

finch, P. personata, and the White-ear, with black flank-patch

instead of girdle, and mask instead of large throat-spot, amiable

in temper, quiet in habits, and sexes alike. The j^oung of leucotis

seem to be unknown, but doubtless they will prove to be, as

-with perso7iata, like their parents but with black bills. All of

these four roost, from preference, in boxes or squatting-places

of some kind ; and none of them sing in the manner that

the Gouldians do. Lastly, we have Gould's Grassfinch, P.

gouldicB, and the Beautiful Grassfinch, P. mirabilis, popularly

classed together as Gouldians. In these the sexes are diverse,

and the ^-oung, while like to one another (on this point the

Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. is inaccurate), are quite different from the

adults. They have neither black girdle nor flank- patch, never

use feathers in the construction of their nests, and always roost

in the open (towards the ends of the slender boughs of growing

trees if possible, often quite amongst the leaves) except when

actually sitting. Specimens that are ^rt'/.fr/r /^'■^^/ moult true to

colour year after 3^ear ; and the two species are at any rate as



