88 THE AUSTRAL AVIAN RECORD [Vol. III. 



and sides of the face are disintegrated in structure, lined 

 along the shafts with white followed on each side by black 

 and margined by rusty earth-brown — the last colour is 

 developed more extensively on the back and the upper wing- 

 coverts are inclining more to rufous ; flight-quills brown with 

 pale outer edges and rufous-buff margins to the inner-webs ; 

 tail-feathers brown with pale disintegrated edges and narrow 

 dark obsolete bars which give a waved appearance ; throat, 

 fore-neck and breast also lined with white, with rufous margins 

 to the feathers ; middle of abdomen paler and inclining to 

 whitish and more uniform earth-brown on the lower flanks ; 

 axillaries, under wing-coverts, and inner edges of the quills 

 below rufous ; remainder of the under-surface of the flight- 

 quills brown like the lower aspect of the tail. Bill bluish horn, 

 mouth yellow, eyes light hazel, feet and legs purplish brown. 

 Total length 192 mm. ; culmen 13, wing 68, tail 93, tarsus 25. 

 Collected on Dirk Hartog Island, West Australia, on the 

 18th of May, 1916. 



Adult female. Differs from the adult male in having a 

 dark chestnut patch of feathers on the sides of the body. 



I have compared a Dirk Hartog specimen of Nesomalurus 

 leuco'pterus with a Barrow Island bird N 'esomalurus edouardi 

 and note the following differences: The former has a dis- 

 tinctly stouter bill, recalling the original figure which appears 

 to have exaggerated that feature to call attention to it : the 

 white markings on the scapulars extend on to the secondaries 

 which are pure white, while in the latter they are brownish 

 with white edgings : the wing in the BarroAv Island form is 

 noticeably longer. As no series are available these characters 

 may not be constant, but as Campbell emphasized, the 

 localities are five hundred miles apart and consequently the 

 forms must, for the present, be regarded as subspecificaHy 

 separable. 



For these dark Blue Wrens I proposed the new generic 

 name Nesomalurus, but Mr. Carter suggests that as the Dirk 

 Hartog form is replaced by the blue and white species on the 



