THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
North, Austr. Mus. Spec. Cat., no. 1, Vol. III., p. 285, 1912 ; Mathews, List Birds 
Austr., p. 113, 1913 ; MacgiUivxay, Emu, Vol. XIII., p. 152, 1914 (Q.) ; S. A. White, 
Trans. Roy. Soc. South Austr., Vol. XXXVIII., p. 426, 1914 (Central). 
Cerchneis unicolor Milligan, Emu, Vol. IV., p. 2, 1904 (aberration) : Yalgoo, West 
Australia ; Hall, Key Birds Austr., 2nd ed., p. 110, 1906 ; Mathews, Handhst 
Birds Austral., p. 42, 1908 ; Whitlock, Emu, Vol. VIII., p. 178, 1909 (W.A.). 
Cerchneis cenchroides cenchroides Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 253, 1912 ; id.. 
List Birds Austr., p. 113, 1913 ; White, Trans. Roy. Soc. South Austr., Vol. 
XXXIX., p. 745, 1915 (Central). 
Cerchneis cenchroides unicolor Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 253, 1912 ; id., Austral 
Av. Rec., Vol. II., p 56, 1912; id.. List Birds Austr., p. 113, 1913. 
Cerchneis cenchroides milligani Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 253, 1912 : Parry’s 
Creek, North-west Australia; id.. List Birds Austr., p. 113, 1913; id.. Ibis 1914, 
p. 109 (MelviUe Island). 
Disteibtjtion. Australia ; Tasmania. 
Adult male. Mantle, back, scapulars, upper wing-coverts and innermost secondaries pale 
cinnamon rufous with dark sagittate centres to the feathers and incomplete bars 
on the innermost secondaries ; bastard-wing and primary-coverts blacMsh-brown 
with paler edges to the feathers on their outer webs, inner webs of the primary- and 
secondary-quills for the most part with tooth -like pattern with an infusion of 
rufous, outer secondaries margined with white at the tips becoming cinnamon- 
rufous on the inner ones, marked brown on the outer webs, the inner webs being 
marked 'with brown and white ; second and third primaries incised on the outer 
webs and the first and second on the inner webs ; rump and upper tail-coverts 
ash-grey with dark shaft-streaks ; tail pale ash-grey with a slight tinge of rufous, 
chiefly on the outer webs, an indication of dark bars on the inner webs, a broad 
subapical black band and tipped with white, the outer pair of feathers paler and 
inclining to white ; crown of head pale grey with dark shaft-lines and heavily 
tinged with rufous ; hinder cheeks and ear-coverts dull white ; a dark brown line 
from below the eye to the sides of the throat ; base of fore-head, throat, abdomen, 
thighs, under tail-coverts and under wing-coverts white ; axillaries white with 
black shaft-lines which are more or less spear-shaped. Bill bluish, base and orbital 
space yellow, cere yeUow ; eyes dark brown ; feet and legs deep yellow. Total 
length 330 mm. ; cuLmen 14, wing 237, tail 147. Figured. Collected at Derby, 
North-west Australia, on the 20th of June, 1886. 
Adult female. Similar to the adult male but differs chiefly by the absence of grey on the 
head, rump and upper tail-coverts, and almost entire absence of grey on the tail, 
which is for the most part rufous with dark bars, the black shaft-lines on the 
imder wing-coverts, and its larger size. Wing 257 mm. Collected on Melville Island, 
Northern Territory, on the 17th of June, 1912, by Mr. J. P. Rogers. 
Imrmture birds are more heavily spotted. 
Nest. In a hollow hmb of a tree or crevice of a rock. Sometimes a deserted nest of a 
Corvus. 
Eggs. Clutch, four (or five). Ground-colour buff, covered with markings of reddish- 
brown, which are either heavy or light. Axis 35.8 mm. ; diameter 30.1. West 
Australian eggs have more gloss — 38 by 29. 
Breeding-season. August to November. 
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