Order PASSEllES.] 
[Eam. SYLVIIDvE. 
GEE YGONE ALBOEEONTATA. 
(CHATIIAM-ISLAND WARBLER.) 
Gerygone' 1 . albofrontata, Gray, Voy. Ereb. and Terror, p. 5, pi. 4. fig. 2 (1844). 
Acantliiza albofrontata. Gray, Hand-1, of B. i. p. 219 (1869). 
Ad. supra, olivascenti-brunncus, pileo obscuriore, uropygio et supracaudalibusTsete et conspicue rufescenti-fulvis : 
tectricibus alarum et remigibus cinerascenti-brunneis, dorsi colore limbatis : rectricibus cinerascenti- 
brunneis, versus apicem purpurascenti-nigris et fascia fulvescente transversim notata, pcnuis duabus centrali- 
bus reliquorumque apicibus omnino cinerascenti-brunneis : fronte, supercilio et facie laterali albidis, loris 
et regione parotic^, brunneo notatis : subtus albicans, abdomine imo et bypochondriis flavicantibus : sub- 
caudalibus et tibiis fulvis : subalaribus albicantibus flavido lavatis : iride cruentata : rostro brunneo, gonyde 
pallidiore : pedibus saturate brunneis. 
Adult male. Upper surface rusty brown, lighter on the wings and rump; the whole of the plumage plumbeous 
beneath ; forehead, sides of the head, fore neck, breast, and the underpai-ts generally greyish white, tinged 
with yellow on the flanks and abdomen ; au obscure streak of dusky brown passes through the eyes; wing- 
feathers dusky brown, with lighter shafts, margined on their outer webs with yellowish brown ; inner lining 
of wings yellowish white ; tail-feathers rusty brown, tinged with rufous towards the base, darker brown in 
their apical portion, with the tips paler; the two outermost feathers on each side with a broad subterminal 
bar of fulvous white, and the two succeeding ones with an obscure triangular spot of fulvous white on the 
inner webs ; upper tail-coverts rufous-brown. Irides blood-red ; bill and feet blackish brown. Total length 
5 - 75 inches ; wing, from flexure, 2‘6 ; tail 2‘5 ; bill, along the ridge -4, along the edge of lower mandible "5 ; 
tarsus ‘9; middle toe and claw ‘65 ; hind toe and claw ‘65. 
Female. Similar to the male, but slightly smaller, and without the yellow tinge on the nnderparts. 
Obs. In my former edition, under the head of Gerygone albofrontata, I observed : — “ I have never met with this 
bird in New Zealand ; but it is highly probable that the supposed new species of Gerygone lately observed 
by Mr. Potts and his son in Westland, of which an account will shortly appear in f The Ibis/ will prove to 
be the same.” As Professor Hutton, however, has since pointed out (Trans. N.-Z. Inst. vol. v. p. 222), 
“ Mr. Potts’s specimen, as he describes it, differs from G. albofrontata, not only in the absence of the white 
forehead, but also in the dark colour of the wings, in having the two centre tail-feathers black, and in the 
chin, cheeks, and breast being grey ; in all which respects it agrees with Gerygone flaviventris.” 
This fine species was originally described and figured by Mr. G. R. Gray, in the ‘ Voyage of the 
Erebus and Terror/ from a specimen alleged to have been “ brought by Dr. Dieffenbach from New 
Zealand.” The specimen itself, however, which is now in the British Museum, is labelled as from 
the Chatham Islands, whence other examples have since been obtained. Mr. Henry Travers reports 
that he met with it on all the islands of the group, although it is by no means common. He observed 
that it had much the same habits as the New-Zealand species. The nest of this bird is similar to that 
of Gerygone flaviventris', but with a lai'ger aperture, and without any threshold projection, although 
the upper edge is overhanging. The green-coloured nests of the meadow-spider ( Epeira ) are used 
among the building-materials, and likewise the white cocoons of some ground species, which I have 
not been able to identify. The eggs (of which I have three specimens) are slightly ovoido-conical, 
measuring ’75 inch in length by -55 in breadth ; pinkish white, marked over the entire surface with 
minute specks and linear freckles of reddish brown, which coalesce and form a cap at the larger end. 
H 
