THE BIRDS OP AUSTRALIA. 
spots and marked with brown ; lower aspect of tail mottled with cinnamon, brown, 
and white, all of which are divided into bars, and with white tips to the feathers. 
Eyes orange, feet yellow, biU mud-colour, palate lemon-yellow. Total length 
377 mm. ; culmen 32, wing 182, tail 175, tarsus 22. Figured. Collected at Cape 
York, North Queensland, on 13th November, 1912. 
Adult female. General colour above and below chocolate or cinnamon-brown, everywhere 
speckled or dotted with whitish and blackish markings of various forms ; the pale 
spots on the upper wing-coverts are few in number and somewhat large in size ; 
the scapulars are pale smoke-brown like the innermost secondaries, both of which 
are paler than the back ; bastard-wing, primary-coverts, and quills dark brown 
with paler mottled bars on the inner-webs and chocolate-brown and smoky-white 
markings on the outer-webs ; tail rather paler than the back, with numerous pale 
mottled bars and whitish tips to the feathers ; ear-coverts uniform chocolate- 
brown ; sides of the forehead, above the eye, and sides of the nape whitish, forming 
a more or less conspicuous superciliary line ; the feathers at the base of the bill 
barred with smoky-white, disintegrated and bristly in structure, and some of those at 
the base of the forehead erectile ; under-surface paler than above, the pale or whitish 
portion of the plumage predominating over the chocolate-brown ; chin and throat 
whitish, the feathers barred or mottled with chocolate-brown ; breast, abdomen, and 
sides of the body rather darker, with central shaft-streaks strongly pronounced ; 
under tail-coverts similar but somewhat paler ; axillaries and under wing-coverts 
dusky-brown ; under-surface of quills pale brown with paler mottled bars, outer-webs 
cinnamon with whitish spots which are margined with dark brown ; lower aspect 
of tail mottled with brown and dull white and tinged with cinnamon. Eyes 
orange, feet drab, bill dull green. Total length 385 mm. ; culmen 31, wing 177, 
tail 186, tarsus 22. Figured. Collected at Cape York, North Queensland, on the 
20th June, 1912. 
The female is much darker than the male, more especially on the under-surface. 
Nest, Eggs and Breeding-season not recorded. 
This species was added to the Australian List by Gould, in the Supplement 
to the Birds of Australia, from specimens procured by Macgillivray. Gould 
wrote : “ On carefully comparing examples of this species with the original 
example of MM. Quoy and Gaimard’s Podargus ocellatus in the Museum of the 
Jardin des Plantes, I found them to differ so greatly that I could come to no 
other conclusion than that they were distinct. . . . Both the specimens from 
which my descriptions were taken were shot by Mr. Macgill vray on the Cape 
York Peninsula, one on the 14th, the other on the 19th of November, 1849. 
These examples now grace the National Collection, where they will be available 
for comparison should any nearly allied species be discovered.” Since that date 
no notes have been given of its life-history, as, though Le Souef described 
“ reputed ” eggs, no habits were at that note added. Then Barnard wrote : 
“ Fairly common (at Cape York) ; only found in thick scrubs.” 
Macgillivray, the younger, added {Emu, Vol. XIII., p. 158, 1914) : “ This 
small Podargus frequents the scrubs, where it has ample opportunity for 
concealment : consequently it appears to be a rarer bird than it really is. It 
is doubtful whether its nest and egg or eggs have yet been obtained. Irides 
yellow, biU pale yellowish-green, legs pale yeUow. Stomach contents usually 
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