THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
with white tips to the feathers. Bill and eyes black ; feet lavender. Total length 
235 mm. ; culmen 15, wing 110, tail 106, tarsus 43. Figured. Collected at Cape 
York, North Queensland, on the 6th of September, 1913. 
Adult female. Similar to the adult male. 
Male. General colour of the upper-surface chestnut-brown including the top of the head, 
hind-neck, back, scapulars and central tail-feathers, brighter and more chestnut 
on the rump and upper tail-coverts ; lesser upper wing-coverts drab-brown like 
the margins of the innermost secondaries ; median and greater upper wing-coverts, 
bastard- wing and primary-coverts black tipped with white, or buffy-white, the primary- 
coverts marked with white at the base on the inner web ; flight-quills blackish- 
brown marked with white on the inner webs towards the base and edged with buffy- 
white on the outer web ; outer tail-feathers for the most part blackish-brown with 
buffy-white tips ; lores buff ; feathers behind the eye and ear-coverts buffy-white ; 
fore-part of eye and feathers below the eye and the lower sides of the ear-coverts 
black ; chin and throat buff ; breast, abdomen, sides of body, thig hs and under 
tail-coverts smoke-brown ; axillaries and under wing-coverts white with more or 
less brown on the marginal coverts ; under-surface of flight-quills dark brown 
with white margins at the base ; lower aspect of tail dark brown with buffy-white 
tips to the feathers. Total length 222 mm. ; culmen 12, wing 117, tail 97, tarsus 42. 
Figured. Collected on the Roper River, Northern Territory, in September 1910, 
and is the type of Dry modes superciliaris colcloughi. 
Immature. Ciown of head, hind- neck and sides of the neck pale smoke-brown with pale 
shaft-streaks and some of the feathers on the top of the head have narrow black 
edges ; back ochreous with pale centres and blackish fringes to some of the feathers ; 
lesser upper wing-coverts buff with a dark spot on each web of the feathers ; median 
and greater series black with cream-coloured shafts and tips to the feathers ; bastard- 
wing also black tipped with white ; primary-coverts black marked with white on 
the basal portion of the inner webs and minutely marked with buff at the tips ; 
flight-quills blackish-brown with white at the base and along the edges of the outer 
webs of some of the primaries and inclining to ochreous on the outer webs of the 
secondaries ; upper tail-coverts rufous-chestnut ; middle tail-feathers rufous-brown 
with smoke-white tips to some of the feathers ; lateral feathers blackish tipped with 
white ; eyelid in front of eye black as is also a narrow line below the eye skirting 
the lower margin of the ear-coverts ; hinder eyelid, a spot above the eye, and ear- 
coverts buffy-white ; throat, abdomen and sides of body silky- white ; fore-neck 
buffy-white with dark edges to the feathers ; under tail-coverts buff ; lower flanks 
tinged with buff ; under wing-coverts white, the marginal ones buff ; under-surface 
of flight-quills dark, white at the base and pale at the tips ; lower aspect to tail 
blackish-brown with white tips to the feathers. Eyes black, bill brown, lower 
mandible pink, feet pink. Collected at the Cable Station, Cape York, North Queens- 
land, on the 26th of February, 1913. 
Nest. “ Which is generally placed at the foot of a small tree, consists of a circular hole 
scooped in the ground, about four inches in diameter and one and a half deep, and 
this is roughly lined with the long wiry tendrils of a scrub plant. Around this 
cupped portion of the structure is built a compact wall, about an inch or more in 
height, of sticks and leaves. . . . The structure measures externally over all 
about 9 inches.” (Jardine.) 
Eggs. “ Clutch, two. Ground-colour dull white or stone-grey uniformly freckled and 
spotted with different shades of brown and underlying freckles and spots of faint 
bluish-grey. 22 mm. by 18.” (North.) 
Breeding-season. November to January. (Jardine.) 
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