CHESTNUT-CROWNED BABBLER. 
coverts are dusky at the base and white at the tips ; axillaries like the sides of the 
body ; under wing-coverts chestnut, the marginal or outer coverts white ; under- 
surface of flight-quills greyish-brown with a rusty tinge ; lower aspect of tail black 
with white tips to the feathers. Eyes brown, bill dark horn, base of lower mandible 
whitish ; feet and legs blackish. Total length 204 mm. ; culmen 22, wing 90, tail 
87, tarsus 26. Figured. Collected at Pundonga, near Luxton, South Australia, in 
May 1917. The sexes are alike. 
Immature. Crown of head blackish-brown ; lower and sides of face similar with a small 
white patch on the hinder-part of the eye, and some white-tipped feathers on the 
sides of the nape ; a buff supraloral streak which extends over the eye and along 
the sides of the crown ; hind-neck, back, and upper tail-coverts dusky brown with 
a greyish tinge like the lesser upper wing-coverts ; median and greater upper wing- 
coverts and bastard-wing blackish, margined with white like some of the innermost 
secondaries ; primary-coverts and flight- quills blackish-brown with slightly paler 
edges on both webs ; tail black, broadly tipped with white on the lateral feathers ; 
chin, throat and neck white like the middle of the breast and centre of the abdomen ; 
sides of breast chestnut-brown ; lower flanks, thighs, vent and under tail-coverts 
dusky with whitish tips to the last ; under wing-coverts pale chestnut, the marginal 
coverts black and white ; under-surface of flight-quills dark brown ; lower aspect 
of tail black tipped with white ; eyes muddy brown ; feet and bill dark grey ; gape 
white, throat orange-yellow. Collected at Cobar, New South Wales, on the 14th of 
September, 1911. 
Male, juvenile. Crown of head dark chestnut ; hind-neck, back, scapulars and lesser 
upper wing-coverts hair-brown with darker centres to the feathers on the back ; 
median and greater upper wing-coverts blackish-brown, broadly margined with 
white, bastard-wing and primary-coverts similar ; flight-quills brown becoming 
darker on the innermost secondaries which are margined with white at the tips ; 
upper tail-coverts somewhat darker than the back, with chestnut margins ; tail 
black, the lateral feathers broadly tipped with white ; a white superciliary line from 
the base of the bill to the sides of the crown tinged with chestnut ; lores and fore-part 
of eyelid black ; upper and under eyelid white ; feathers below the eye and ear- 
coverts dark brown ; sides of the neck speckled with brown, black, and white ; 
throat, breast, and middle of abdomen white ; sides of breast and sides of body 
chestnut more or less mixed with blackish ; flanks, thighs, vent and under tail- 
coverts dark smoke-brown with whitish tips to the feathers on the vent and under 
tail-coverts ; inner under wing-coverts pale chestnut, the marginal ones whitish, the 
greater series greyish-brown like the quill-lining ; lower aspect of tail blackish 
with white tips to the feathers. Collected at Cunnamulla, Queensland, on the 18th of 
July, 1902. 
Nest. Dome-shaped with side hooded entrance. Roughly composed of sticks, lined 
with grass, wool, etc. Outside measurements 12 inches by 8. 
Eggs. Clutch, four. Ground-colour light stone or brown. Marked with hair-like markings, 
more at the larger end, of sepia or blacldsh-brown. 25 mm. by 17. 
Breeding-season. July to December. 
Hartlaub described this fine species from a collection of South Australian 
birds sent to the Bremen Museum from Adelaide, and sagaciously remarked : 
“It is remarkable that the bird escaped the researches of Mr. Gould and his 
collectors, and one cannot help imagining that it must have recently arrived 
from some part of the interior of the country, and accompanied other stragglers 
VOL. IX. 
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