PLATE "V. 



CLIMACTERIS RUFA {Gould). 



R UFO US TREE- CREEPER. 



IF it were not fur the rufous tint pervading all the colouring of this bird, it might easily be 

 mistaken for Climacteris Scandens, to which it bears a great resemblance as regards shape 

 and contour. 



It is very common in Western Australia, especially in the forests of Eucalypti, upon which 

 trees it seeks for insects, ascending the smooth bark with the greatest ease. It is also, however 

 often to be seen on the ground searching for ants and their larvae. 



When disturbed it utters a shrill and piercing cry, which sounds most weird and strange in 

 the still and silent forest. 



During the breeding season it constructs, far down in the hollow of a dead branch, a nest 

 of soft grasses, lined with down, in which three eggs are laid, of a pale salmon-colour, with blotches 

 of reddish-brown thickly distributed over the surface. 



The male has the crown of the head, all the upper surface and wings, dark brown ; tail, 

 pale brown ; line over the eyes, lores, ear-coverts, throat and under surface of the shoulder, rust- 

 brown ; chest, rufous-brown, each feather with a stripe of buffv-white, bounded on each side with a 

 line of black, down the centre ; the remainder of the under surface deep rust-red, with a line of 

 white down the centre of each feather, this line being lost, however, on the vent and flanks ; irides, 

 dark brown ; bill and feet, blackish-brown. 



Total length, 6 inches ; bill, -| inch ; wing, 3 J inches ; tail, 2^ inches ; tarsi, % inch. 

 Habitat : Western Australia. 



CLIMACTERIS ERYTHROPS (Gould). 



REDE YEBRO WED TREE-CREEPER. 



ri^HE most remarkable fact connected with this species is the reversion, in its case, of the general 

 law by which the male has a more beautiful plumage than the female. The same peculiarity 

 is present to a very small extent in both Climacteris Scandens and Climacteris Rufa, though scarcely 

 noticeable. 



Gould first discovered it on the low grassy hills near the Liverpool range, but it is also to 

 be found in other parts of the colony. The habits are very much the same as those of Climacteris 

 Leucop/uea. 



The male has the crown of the head blackish-brown, each feather margined with greyish- 

 brown; lores, and a circle surrounding the eye, reddish-chestnut; back, brown; sides of the neck a L*d 

 lower part of the back, grey ; two centre tail feathers grey, the remainder blackish-brown, tij "I 



