REVISION OF THE GENUS MALURUS. 
Malurus ( Hallornis ) leucopterus Dumont. 
Malurus leucopterus Dumont, Diet. Sci. Nat., 30, p. 118, 1824; Dirk 
Hartog Island, Western Australia. 
Malurus edouardi Campbell, Vic. Naturalist, 17, p. 203, 1901 ; Barrow 
Island, Western Australia. 
Range. — Dirk Hartog Island and Barrow Island, Western Australia. 
Specimens examined. — -43 Irom both islands. 
M easurements . — 
Wing Tail Exposed Culmen Tarsus 
29 males . . 43-4G (44-8) 56-04 (59) 8-9 (8-7) 18-20 (19) 
9 females . . 42-45 (43-9) 55-60 (58-7) 8-9 (8-6) 18-19 (18-7) 
Male. — Entirely glossy black with greenish-blue reflections, except scapulars, 
wings and tail ; scapulars, innermost secondaries and inner upper wing-coverts 
white ; remainder of upper wing-coverts fuscous-black tipped or margined 
glossy black ; primaries and remainder of secondaries fuscous with outer 
margins bluish white, darkest on inner secondaries ; tail hortense blue ; under 
wing-coverts black, inner margins of wing-quills noticeably lighter. “Bill 
black ; eyes deep brown ; feet blackish brown.” 
Female. — Upper surface drab ; ear-coverts and sides of neck light drab ; 
wings fuscous, outer margins of wing-quills lighter, from drab on innermost 
secondaries to pale drab-gray on primaries ; lesser and median upper wing- 
coverts tipped pale drab-gray like outer margins of greater series and wing- 
quills ; tail grayish-blue green, suffused with drab and some outer feathers 
tipped white ; lores and under surface white becoming avallaneous on flanks 
and under tail-coverts ; under wing-coverts pinkish buff, inner margins of 
quills light drab. "Bill dull red, fleshy white at base ; eyes dark hazel ; feet 
brownish purple.” 
Although the two islands inhabited by this species are about 
500 miles apart, specimens from both, in the representative 
series examined, are inseparable. It has been stated that the 
males differ in the colour of tail and thighs (tibia), but this is 
plainly due to state of plumage. In an otherwise fully plumaged 
male the thighs may be drab or grayish as in the female, the 
tail brownish or greenish-blue, and the under wing-coverts 
pinkish buff, not black. Available specimens show various 
stages from drab immature up to fully plumaged adult males 
which have the tail hortense or dusky blue, and the thighs and 
under wing-coverts black. The tail, in examples from both 
islands, varies considerably and it is difficult to state a single 
colour that is approached by all. Some females from Barrow 
Island have the upper surface deeper or richer in colour than 
those from the type locality, but this is not a constant feature. 
In the series examined five males from Dirk Hartog Island 
and one from Barrow Island show a limited amount of blue, 
similar to the blue of M. leuconotus of the mainland, in the 
otherwise black feathers of the under surface ; this colour is 
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