THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
smoke-brown with pale shaft-lines to the feathers ; upper wing-coverts, including, 
the bastard-wing, and primary-coverts, dark brown with a bronze tinge and buffy- 
white pear-shaped marks at the tips of some of the major coverts ; flight-quills 
blackish brown fringed with white on the inner webs, grey on the outer webs of the 
primaries and bronze-green on the secondaries, the innermost secondaries have 
small buffy-white pear-shaped markings at the tips ; tail-feathers blackish-brown 
tinged with green on the outer webs and edged with whitish at the tips of the lateral 
feathers ; rictal bristles black but directed forward ; lores blackish ; the feathers 
approaching on the chin and along the cheeks have greyish- white tips ; throat, 
breast, abdomen, and sides of body smoke-brown with pale shaft-lines to the feathers ; 
the feathers on the vent and under tail-coverts paler, isabelline in colour, and more 
downy in texture ; under wing-coverts undeveloped but show an inclination to 
white ; under-surface of flight-quills pale brown with white inner edges ; lower 
aspect of tail also pale brown with slightly paler margins at the tips of the outer 
feathers. Collected at Selby, Victoria, on the 23rd of November, 1912. 
Young. Upper-surface lead-grey with whitish shaft-lines and rufous-brown tips to the 
feathers, more especially on the head, mantle and upper tail-coverts ; bastard- wing, 
primary-coverts, and median wing-coverts blackish, the latter with elongated 
ochreous spots ; primary and secondary quills dark brown with pale edges to the 
outer primaries and dull green on the outer webs of the inner secondaries ; tail 
greyish-brown margined with yellowish-green on the outer webs, the feathers are 
acuminate and edged with white at the tips ; sides of face, throat, breast and 
remainder of under-surface burnt sienna-brown, showing more or less white on the 
throat and abdomen ; under wing-coverts white. Collected at Gembrook, Victoria, 
on the 9th of November, 1901. 
Nestling female. Crown of head, back and scapulars dark smoke-brown with whitish 
centres to the feathers ; upper wing-coverts dark brown with whitish pear-shaped 
marks at the tips of the feathers ; outer greater coverts uniform blackish like the 
primary-coverts ; flight-quills, in process of development, dark brown with very 
narrow grey edgings to the outer webs of the primaries ; tail-feathers undeveloped 
with a tuft of isabelline coloured down on each side ; sides of face, throat, breast, 
and sides of body earth-brown with slightly paler shaft-lines to the feathers ; abdomen 
and vent paler, more downy, and inclining to whitish. Collected at Fern Tree 
Gully, Victoria, on the 23rd of November, 1912. 
“ Fledgelings are pale rufous-brown above and below, the feathers on the upper-parts 
having distinct whitish shaft-streaks, the yellow feathers just appearing in the 
throat. Young birds resemble the adults, but are mottled more or less with the 
rufous-brown feathers of youth until they arrive at full maturity.” (North.) 
Nest. A beautiful cup-shaped one, composed of grass stems and lined with roots. On 
the outside pieces of bark hang down the sides, being joined to the top with cobweb 
and decorated with lichen. Dimensions : outside 3 to 3| inches by 2\ to 3 inches 
deep ; inside 2 inches by 1J deep. 
Eggs. Clutch, two to three. Ground-colour bluish-green (different tints) blotched with 
chestnut (varying shades) at the larger end. 21-23 mm. by 15-18. 
Breeding-season. August to December. 
This common species was figured by White and described by Latham 
simultaneously, and White’s name has been commonly used, though only 
recently I determined that it had absolute priority. It is interesting to note 
288 
