PARSONS— A Day in the Mallee. L 13 



178. Pachycephala pectgbalis melanura. Black-tailed 

 Thickhead. 



Pachycephala melanura (Gould), Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.), 

 1842, p. 134, 1843. Derby, North-west Australia. 



No. 311—5. Length, 6.6 inches (25/7/86). 



180. Lewinornis rufiventris colletti. Western Rufous- 

 breasted Thickhead. 

 Pachycephala rufiventris colletti (Mathews), Austral. Av. 

 Rec, Vol. I., p. 41. Parry's Creek, North-west Australia. 



No. 188— $ . Length, 6.5 inches (26/6/86). 



Irides, reddish brown; bill and feet, black. 



No. 189— 2 . Length, 6.2 (26/6/86). 



Bill brown, lower mandible lighter at the base. The 

 above are a pair shot together. 



No. 197— $ Length, 6.7 (27/6/86). 



Irides, reddish brown; bill, legs, and feet, black. 



No. 275— 5 . Length, 6.8 inches (17/7/86). 



No. 354— $ . Length, 6.7 inches (2/8/86). 



No. 476— $ . Length, 6.7 inches (29/10/86) 



The males of this subspecies are very shy, and not easily 

 obtained, the females and yonng birds are easily shot. Their 

 note is full and sweet. 



A Day in the Mailee. 



By F. E. Parsons, R.A.O.U. 



The new railway from Tailem Bend to Paringa passes 

 through very uninteresting and monotonous looking country 

 for the average traveller; the first 100 miles being through 

 dense dwarf mallee covering slightly undulating sandy soil. 

 The only break in the monotonous outlook being an occasio- 

 nal small galvanized iron humpy, and a clearing of 100 or 

 200 acres. 



To anyone interested in ornithology the country is how- 

 ever, extremely interesting, and suggests great possibilities 

 to one able to spend a few hours in the scrub, for no forms of 

 bird life are more interesting than those whose habitat is the 

 vast unfrequented mallee covered areas between the River 

 Murray and the Victorian border. 



During the first week in May I had occasion to go to Pun- 

 gonda siding, on the Paringa line, and as the trains onlv re- 



