VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF HOUTMAn's ABROLHOS. 463 



The Abrolhos birds were described by Gould (P. Z. S. 1845, p. 62) as a 

 distinct species, " Hemipodius scintillans," described as " very nearly allied 

 to but much smaller than II. varius." In the 'Birds of Australia' Gould 

 writes that the species "much resembles H. varius, but is little more than 

 half the size of that species ; independently of which the colouring is much 

 lighter, more varied and sparkling, the white margins of the back feathers 

 more numerous and conspicuous, and the markings of the throat and breast 

 of a crescentic instead of an elongated form." 



In 1911 Mathews (8) separated the form of Turnix varia found in South- 

 West Australia as T. varia stirlingi, writing that it " agrees with T. varia 

 scintillans in its darker upper coloration but differs in its much paler under- 

 surface and more white on the ear-coverts." 



In 1913 the same writer (9) placed his own T. varia stirlingi as a synonym 

 of T. varia scintillans, Gould. 



As Mr. Mathews informed me that he had not examined any birds from 

 the Abrolhos, I presume he was relying on Gould's description in taking this 

 action. There are two Abrolhos birds in the Western Australian Museum 

 obtained in 1894, and in my opinion they are quile sufficiently different from 

 birds from the mainland as to need a subspecific name. They are much 

 lighter in colour than all the birds from the mainland, for which I will use 

 Mathews's name of T. varia stirlingi. Now, though Gould's figure shows 

 scintillans as " darker" than varius, in the description he says it is "lighter." 

 In the second place, the white patch on the throat extends further down, and 

 the white markings on the breast are fairly narrow, only widening a little 

 towards the tip instead of being crescentic as in stirlingi. I cannot help 

 thinking that Gould meant to write that they were " of an elongated instead 

 of a crescentic form," instead of the exact opposite. In addition, both the 

 specimens of scintillans have far more white spots on the cheeks and head 

 than any of the specimens of stirlingi, in none of which do they extend right 

 across the back of the head ; moreover, these spots and the streaks on the 

 breast are white instead of huffish, which I presume is what Gould referred 

 to when he said the colouring was " more varied and sparkling." Other 

 slight differences noticed are that the black patches on the hack are 

 distinctly more broken up by cross-bars in scintillans, the reddish colour 

 on the sides of the breast extends much further down, and, as noted by 

 Gould, " the white margins of the back feathers are more numerous and 

 conspicuous." 



In making these comparisons I have had before me the two specimens 

 of Ortygodes varius scintillans from the Abrolhos, seven specimens of 

 0. varius Stirling) from localities from Perth to Denmark, W.A., and 

 one specimen of 0. varius varius from Queensland. 



