THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
been studied, I do not doubt that we shall find that juveniles will be as easily 
separable as adults. 
P orphyrio 7}ielanotus was described simply from Australia ; I have therefore 
designated New South Wales as the typical locality. In the synonymy above 
I have placed all Australian references that can be traced to belong to East 
Australia; the other references which have been used in connection with the 
Bald Coot generally, cannot be allotted to any special subspecies. 
P. 7n. melanotus has the under-coloration purplish throughout, with 
the shoulder patches of the same colour, and back greenish-black ; the 
Tasmanian race has the same coloration, but is a much larger bird when fully 
grown. It should be noted that Gould, comparing a specimen not fully adult, 
concluded that the Tasmanian race was smaller. 
The south-western bird has always been recognised as distinct, as the 
back is browner and there is a distinct wash of verditer on the throat and 
upper-breast, and the shoulder patches are also verditer. The hind-neck, 
lower-breast and fianks are of the same colour as the Eastern form. 
From the north-west comes a bird which was recorded as P. hdlus by 
Eamsay, Sharpe, Keartland, and myself. This bird I have called P. neo~ 
melanotuSf and the under-coloration is ultramarine or cobalt, rather than 
purple. The colour on the throat and upper-breast is brighter than on the 
lower-breast and flanks, but the colours blend. This is the bird described in 
the Catalogue of Birds as hellus. At the time that was written, no specimen of 
true hellus was in the British Museum. It is this connecting link which has 
caused me to reduce hellus to the rank of a subspecies only. 
These subspecies seem to differ also in size : — 
P. m. mela'notus 
„ fletchercB 
„ hellus 
,, neomelanotus 
Culmen. 
68-76 
67 
70 
73.5-76 
Wing. 
265-281 
301 
^93 
269-276 
Tarsus. 
97-103 
98 
97 
89-93 
