THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
I therefore classed all under the species name flabellifera and admitted ten 
Australian subspecies. Five of these were proposed as new, as follows : 
Bhipidura flabellifera victorias. 
4 Intermediate between B. f. alisteri and B. f. albiscapa ; nearer the latter 
in having the dark back from which it is easily separable by its smaller size. 
(Ringwood) Victoria. 
Bhipidura flabellifera whitei. 
44 Differs from B. /. alisteri in its larger bill and slightly darker upper 
coloration. (Grange) South Australia. 
Bhipidura flabellifera subphasiana. 
44 Differs from B. /. phasiana in its paler coloration above and richer colour 
below, and easily separable from B. /. preissi in generally lacking the pectoral 
band. Derby, North-west Australia. 
Bhipidura flabellifera harterti. 
44 Differs from B. f. alisteri in its lighter grey coloration above, less marked 
band on the breast, and more uniform paler abdomen coloration. Inkerman, 
Queensland. 
Bhipidura flabellifera frerei. 
44 Differs from B. f. harterti in its smaller size : 70 mm. ( harterti , wing 
75 mm.) Bartle Erere, North Queensland.” 
I laid little stress upon the coloration of the tail, though this had been the 
chief factor used previously, as North had named his species B. albicauda as the 
same except the tail, which had “ all but the two central feathers pure white 
narrowly edged with blackish-brown on the basal half of the outer webs of all 
the feathers except the outermost one on either side.” Of course, as North 
was not concerned with the New Zealand species, he did not recognise that the 
above description exactly applied to birds from that far distant locality. In 
the latter the coloration of the upper and under-surfaces are different from 
those of the former, but North never mentioned those at all. 
I examined North’s type when in Australia in 1914 and found “two outer 
tail-feathers pure white, the next with a fringe of brown on the outer web ; 
this fringe gets wider on the 4th and 5th, but never covers the entire web. 
Middle tail-feathers all brown.” 
When they recorded the birds of Cardwell and district, Campbell and 
Barnard felt compelled to make the following confession : “ This familiar form 
of Fantail was another puzzle to us, because the coastal bird seemed to differ 
from the bird of the ranges. Yet there could not, ornithologically, be two 
forms (or subspecies) of the same species in the one locality not many miles 
apart. The coastal bird appeared to be typical albiscapa , while its repre- 
14 
1 
