14 
RECORDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MU3EUM. 
ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES. 
By Alfred J. North, C.M.Z.S., Ornithologist. 
•*- 
I. — On the EXTENSION of the RANGE of CALAMANTHUS 
FULIGINOSUS , and EMBLEMA PICT A 
to NEW SOUTH WALES. 
During the months of August and September, 1896, the 
Ornithological Collection of the Australian Museum has become 
enriched by the receipt of specimens in the flesh of Calamanthus 
fuliyinosus , and Emblema picta. The former species was obtained 
on Boloco Station, near Buckley’s Crossing Place, New South 
Wales, on the 1 9th August by Mr. E. Payten, who killed it with 
a stone. It was then taken to Mr. Reuben Rose, the owner of 
the station, and was by that gentleman presented to the Trustees 
of the Museum. Buckley’s Crossing Place, situated on the Snowy 
River, is about 296 miles south of Sydney and 34 miles as the 
crow flies to the nearest point of the imaginary line between 
Cape Howe and Forest Hill, which separates the south-eastern 
corner of New South Wales from Eastern Victoria. The natural 
or artificial boundaries of the Continent of course do not form 
any barriers to birds, but hitherto G. fuliginosus has been 
recorded only from the southern parts of Victoria and South 
Australia ; Tasmania being the stronghold of the species. From 
typical examples of C. fuliginosus , the bird procured in New 
South Wales differs in the following respects : the bill is shorter, 
the throat is buff instead of white, although similarly streaked 
with black, and the outer webs of the primaries are externally 
edged with ashy-white. These slight differences may be due to 
immaturity, or climatic variation, the locality in which it was 
obtaineci being over 2,000 feet above the level of the sea. 
On the 23rd of September, Mr. A. M. N. Rose presented to 
the Trustees three adult male specimens of Emblema picta in 
splendid plumage. These birds were shot the previous day by 
his nephew, Mr. Arthur Payten, at Campbelltown, an agricultural 
and dairy farming district, 34 miles south-west of Sydney. Mr. 
Payten saw altogether five specimens, which kept together in a 
small flock while searching for grass-seeds on a hill devoid of any 
cover. Previously this rare bird has been recorded only from 
North-west Australia where the type was procured; from Derby 
and Cambridge Gulf by Mr. E. J. Cairn and the late T. H. 
Boyer-Bower, and from several localities in Central Australia, 
