42 ANNALS OF THE QUEENSLAND MUSEUM, No. 6 
and a very pale, almost white, chin and upper throat. The white- 
ness of the throat is most decided in adult males, these have many 
feathers of the chin entirely white or nearly so. A few white 
feathers occur in most young males and females, but to judge 
from material at hand it is but seldom, even among females, that 
the throat can be said to be yellow. The ring round the eye, 
dusky and easily overlooked in the type, is invariably present, 
and in females appears to be whiter and better developed. The 
colour of the bill appears to vary with age from horn brown, more 
or less pale, to black. The female differs from the adult male 
in the absence of the moustache, little or no whiteness of the upper 
throat, and the paleness of the orbital ring. 
An Apparently New Sericornis. — It can hardly be thought 
rash to anticipate that many additions to our list of known birds 
will be gradually made as the vast extent of territory in the west 
and north-west of the State, explored at present only by the 
squatter and prospector, is searched by the zoological collector. 
Of the indigenous products of these regions we know very little 
so far. Indeed, it would appear that it is not necessary to go 
nearly so far afield to make new acquaintances of the kind. Charle- 
ville, the terminus of our Southern Railway, seems on the map 
to be almost at our door, yet there are birds in its vicinity not 
found nearer to the coast, a tree creeper, for example, and the two 
now to be introduced as candidates for admission to our avifauna. 
Both belong to the peculiar group of small insectivorous tree brids, 
to which the trivial names of thornbills (Acanthiza) and scrubwrens 
{Sericornis) are given. The majority of the species of both genera 
and all those of Acanthiza have the tail ornamented with a dark 
cross band, which is most obvious when the bird raises the organ, 
and brings its lower surface into view, an act conducive to their 
recognition in their leafy haunts. The scrub wren under view 
appears to be easily distinguishable by its diminutive size and 
rufous undertail from those of its fellow species, which, like it,, 
have the dark band on the tail. 
Description of Sericornis tyrannula n.s. 
General colour of upper surface rufous brown, graduating from 
brown anteriorly to bright rufous posteriorly. Head and nape 
brown, uniform on the forehead. Wing rufescent brown, median 
coverts edged with rufous ; greater coverts blackish brown, forming 
a dark rectangular blotch on the wing ; primaries broadly edged 
with pale rufous, in certain lights with rufescent gray ; mantle 
and scapulars rufescent brown, the rufous tint predominant on 
the lower back. Upper tail coverts, bright rufous ; middle tail 
feathers rufous brown, the others dusky gray, permeated by the 
dark band of the under surface. Lores and cheeks subrufescent, 
the latter mottled with dark gray ; ear coverts rufescent with pale 
