SPHENOSTOMA CHRISTATA. 



(Crested Wedge Bill.) 



Upper surface, brown ; under surface, greyish white ; wings, dark brown, edged with paler ; the fourth and fifth primaries, with white bases ; 

 the four central tail feathars, dark brown, barred with darker ; the rest, brownish black, much tipped with white ; bill, blackish brown ; feet, 

 lead color. 



Length, 7| inches ; wing, 3 ; tail, 4 ; tarsus, f; bill, 1 (nearly). 



This interesting species is confined to the interior of New South Wales, being principally found among low scrubby trees and 

 bushes on the banks, or in the neighbourhood, of the Lachlan, Darling, and JSTamoi rivers, but is not by any means plentiful. The nest is 

 rather large, round, and cup-shaped, formed outwardly of twigs, and lined with grasses. Eggs, delicate greenish blue, sprinkled with purplish 

 black. 



PSOPHODES CREPITANS. 



(Coach Whip Bird.) 



Head, face, ear coverts, throat and chest, black ; a large patch of white on the side of the neck ; back, wings, and upper tail coverts, olive 

 brown ; tail feathers, blackish olive, the three lateral pairs tipped with white ; under surface, olive brown ; some feathers in the centre of the 

 abdomen, tipped with white ; bill, black ; feet, reddish brown ; irides, hazel. 



Length, 10 inches ; wing, 3| ; tail, 5f ; tarsus, li. 



The true habitat of this bird is New South Wales and the southern parts of Queensland. The female is smaller, and wants the 

 patch on the neck. It is one of the first to attract the attention of the stranger when arriving at those parts of Australia of which it is a 

 denizen. Its singular note is like the sound caused by quickly drawing a whip lash through the air, and ending with the sharp crack of the 

 same implement. This note is repeated at short intervals, making the scrubs echo again. Though the bird may be close at hand, it is not 

 easily seen, from the dark color of its plumage, and the ease with which it can hide itself in the dense portions of the scrub. By remaining 

 quiet, the observer may sometimes have an opportunity of watching its movements, which are elegant in the extreme. The crest is moveable, 

 and the tail capable of great expansion ; and the contest of two males, as they chase one another through the entangled vines of the scrubs, is 

 a sight worth beholding. It much frequents the ground, where, for the most part, it obtains its food, and where it scratches among the dead 

 leaves and decaying vegetation for the insects so plentifully found in those situations. The nest is rather loosely constructed, being formed 

 of coarse grasses and creeping plants, without any lining, and generally placed in a thick bush near the ground. The eggs are two in 

 number, greenish white, spotted with black and light grey, but most at the large end, the darker spots sometimes resembling Hebrew letters, 

 commas, dashes, &c. Size, li inch by f . 



PSOPHODES NIGEOGULAEIS. 



(Black-throated Psophodes.) 



Uppee surface, olive ; under surface, ashy, passing into brown on the flanks, and white on the centre of the abdomen ; primaries, brown ; 

 tail, light olive brown, the four lateral feathers crossed near the extremity with black, and tipped with white ; throat, deep black, with a 

 stripe of white from the angle of the lower mandible ; bill and feet, dark horn color ; irides, dark brown. 



Length, 6i inches ; wing, 3i ; tail, 4| ; bill, | ; tarsus, li. 



This species is confined to Western Australia. The Wongan Hills and thickets of Leptospermum growing among the sandhills 

 on the coast, are situations known to be frequented by it. It has a singular harsh and grating note, not easily described, and, when once 

 heard, not readily forgotten ; which remark will apply to its eastern representative. 



