OWLET NIGHTJAR. 
specimens become available it may be that subspecies will be herefrom 
separated. 
All the birds from Tasmania are darker at sight, and therefore I separate 
these at once as a distinct subspecies, under the name 
JEgotheles cristata tasmanica, subsp, n. 
The type is a male collected at Prospect near Launceston, on March 15, 1901. 
Throughout the ranges of these subspecies rufous birds are not common, 
and I have not yet seen one from Tasmania. 
The North Queensland birds have been continually associated with 
the north-western form, but they are referable to the typical association. 
They would come between the New South Wales form and the South-east 
New Guinea “ species ” bennetti Salvador! and D’ Albertis, described 
from Yule Island, off the coast. 
This latter can only be regarded as a subspecies of jE. cristata, the bolder 
markings on the breast and the larger bill being the only marked differences. 
I propose to distinguish the North Queensland birds as a distinct 
subspecies, with the name 
JEgotheles cristata olivei, subsp. n. 
The type is a male collected at Cairns, North Queensland, in November, 1902, 
No. 1228 in my collection. 
Robinson and Laverock, reporting upon birds collected by Olive at Cairns, 
N. Queensland {Ibis, 1900, p. 637), used as name “ ^Egotheles novcehollandicc,'" 
but added : “ Three specimens, with rufous auriculars, and the centre of the 
abdomen pure white, are evidently referable to JE. leucogaster Gould, if that 
species is valid, which these specimens seem to show may be the case.” 
The back is more distinctly and boldly barred, while the tail-barring is 
more pronounced and recalls the New Guinea subspecies ; the white belly 
separates the birds from the typical form, with which it agrees in size, and 
though slightly paler, it is not as pale as typical leucogaster. It has not 
the bold breast-markings nor broad bill of A. c. bennetti Salv. and D’Alb. 
The basis of work on the northern, north-western birds begins with Gould’s 
leucogaster. The whiter under-surface is a striking feature when series are 
available, and I again give a big range for the subspecies. \^\ 
jEgotheles cristata leucogaster (Gould). North-western Australia, 
Northern Territory. 
It is almost certain that more than one subspecies is here confused, 
but no characters have been grasped by examination of the birds now before 
me. There is variation in both the red and grey phases, but both are paler 
than the correspondhig southern forms. The freckling on the back sometimes 
shows as regular barring, and the markings on the breast are more or less 
VOL. vn. 
66 
