Order PASSERIFORMES. 
No. 463. 
Family MU SCI C A PI DM. 
PACHYCEPHALA MELANURA. 
BLACK-TAILED THICKHEAD. 
(Plate 393.) 
Pachycephala melanura Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.), 1842, p. 134, Feb. 1843: 
N.W. Coast = Derby, North-west Australia. 
Pachycephala melanura Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.), 1842, p. 134, 1843 ; id., Birds 
Austr., pt. 32 (Yol. II., pi. 66), Sept. 1st, 1848 ; id., Handb. Birds Austr., Vol. I., 
p. 211, 1865 ; Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., Vol. II., p. 181, 1878 ; Gadow, 
Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., Vol. VIII., p. 185, 1883 ; Ramsay, Tab. List Austr. Birds, p. 5, 
1888 ; Hall, Key Birds Austr., p. 33, 1899 ; Campbell, Nests and Eggs Austr. Birds, 
Vol. I., p. 318, 1901 ; Hall, Emu, Vol. I., p. 95, 1902 (N.W.A.) ; Carter, ib., Vol. III., 
p. 91, 1903 (N.W.A.) ; North, Austr. Mus. Spec. Cat. No. 1, Vol. II., p. 26, 1906; 
Mathews, Handl. Birds Austral., p. 84, 1908; Witmer Stone, Austral Av. Rec., 
Vol. I., p. 157, 1913 ; Campbell, Emu, Vol. XVIII., p. 257, 1919 (N.W.A.). 
Not Pachycephala melanura of most writers. 
Pachycephala gutturalis melanura Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 314, 1912. 
Pachycephala pectoralis melanura Mathews, List Birds Austr., p. 178, 1913. 
Pachycephala melanura melanura Mathews, Austral Av. Rec., Vol. III., pt. 6, p. 137, 
June 25th, 1918. 
Pachycephala melanura bynoei Mathews, ib., p. 136 : Port Hedland, North-west Australia. 
Distribution. North-west Australia from Point Cloates to Derby. in; 
Adult male. Crown of head, sides of face, nape, and a somewhat broad band across the 
upper-breast deep black ; back, scapulars, upper tail-coverts, lesser and median 
upper wing-coverts greenish-yellow ; bastard-wing, greater upper wing-coverts, 
primary-coverts and flight-quills black with grey margins to the feathers both on 
the outer and inner webs ; tail blackish, slightly fringed with greenish-yellow and 
becoming dusky-grey at the tips ; rictal bristles black but only slightly developed ; 
chin, throat, and fore-neck pure white ; a narrow collar on the lower hind-neck, 
breast, abdomen, axillaries, sides of the body, and under tail-coverts bright yellow, 
less bright and inclining to yellowish-green on the sides of the body ; under wing- 
coverts and inner edges of quills below white, remainder of quill-lining hair-brown ; 
lower aspect of tail blackish-brown, becoming paler at the tip. Bill black ; eyes 
reddish-brown ; feet and tarsus dull brown. Total length 150 mm. ; culmen 15, 
229 
