140 THE AUSTRAL AVIAN RECORD [Vol. III. 



that had persisted I passed over this picture as probably 

 representing the species with which it was associated, but 

 continued thought has confirmed me in the necessity of 

 rejecting it. 



In order to justify this step, I give herewith an exact re- 

 production of the Watling drawing, the basis of the name. 

 The coloration of the underparts is so strikingly different 

 that I can no longer accept the name. Latham wrote : " All 

 the underparts of the body pale blueish white " : this does 

 not agree at all with the present species, which has those parts 

 yellowish green with the vent white. The coloration of the 

 soft parts also disagrees as follows : Bill brown (black) : irides 

 orange (red or dark brown) : legs yellow (flesh). Consequently, 

 I transfer Turdus maxillaris Latham to the indeterminable 

 (at present) List and make use of the earliest undeniable 

 specific name for the Sphecotheres. This appears to be vieilloti, 

 given by Vigors and Horsfield to a bird collected at Keppel 

 Bay, Queensland, and it seems possible that all the names 

 are referable to the South Queensland form, as Gould observed 

 that it was abundant at Moreton Bay, while its southern 

 limit appears to be north of Sydney, so much so that it is 

 improbable that the birds which reached Europe in the 

 early days would be procured in what we now know as New 

 South Wales. 



Gould also stated : " that it enjoys a wide range is proved by 

 Mr. Bynoe having procured an adult male on the north coast." 

 This species does not appear to have been met with on the 

 north coast since that time. 



Other items may be here noted. First, the systematic 

 position of the genus : in my List, following the traditional 

 location, it was included in the Family Oriolidce,, but this 

 does not seem to be at all correct. Superficially, a separation 

 seemed necessary, and I had been looking for a suitable 

 alternative when I came across the following account by 

 Py craft in the Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.), 1907, p. 376 : " I 

 have been much puzzled as to the systematic position of the 

 genus Sphecotheres. Generally regarded as one of the Oriolidce, 

 it seems to me much more nearly allied to the Campophagidce, 



