THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Immature female. General colour of the upper-surface dark brown with greyish margins 
to the feathers on the crown of the head, hind-neck, sides of neck, and upper-back 
and rust-brown edges to the feathers of the wings, scapulars, and lower-back ; 
inner webs of flight-quills hair-brown with buffy-white edges ; upper tail-coverts 
chestnut ; tail (imperfect) hair-brown with pale edges to the outer webs ; lores and 
superciliary streak dull white ; in front of the eye a few bristles with blackish tips ; 
chin and throat cream-colour as are also the axillaries and under wing-coverts ; 
breast and sides of breast smoke-brown with more or less greyish- white intermixed 
on the latter ; abdomen pale isabelline ; under tail-coverts pale fawn colour ; thighs 
rust-colour ; under-surface of flight-quills hair-brown margined with cinnamon ; 
lower aspect of tail pale brown. Eyes black, feet pinkish, bill brown, lower mandible 
pink. Collected at Normanton, North Queensland, on the 1st of April, 1914. 
Immature. General colour above hair-brown with pale fringes to the feathers on the top of 
the head, back, scapulars and wings ; inner margins of flight-quills buffy-white ; 
tail-feathers tipped and more or less margined along the edges with buffy-white ; 
an indistinct whitish line from the lores to above the eye and along the sides of the 
crown ; sides of face buffy-white ; a dark mark in front of the eye ; throat milk- 
white ; remainder of the under-surface whitish-buff including the axillaries, under 
wing-coverts, and inner edges of the quills below ; a dark patch on the margin of 
the under wing-coverts ; remainder of the quill-lining and lower aspect of tail pale 
brown. Bill horn-colour ; feet pale horn ; eyes deep brown. Total length 161 mm. ; 
culmen 12, wing 78, tail 68, tarsus 24. Collected at Marble Bar, Mid-west Australia, 
on the 18th of September, 1914. 
Nest. Cup-shaped. Composed of grass and lined with the same material placed in a 
depression in the ground. Outside dimensions 44 inches by 3 inches deep : inside 
2| by 2 deep. 
Eggs. Clutch, three or four. Whitish, marked all over, but more at the larger end, with 
reddish spots. 22 mm. by 16. 
Breeding-season. June to January or February, according to district. 
Vigors and Horsfield described this species as Anthus rufescens, when 
they examined the Australian birds in the collection of the Linnean Society, 
but admitted : “ we are not quite certain that it even belongs to this genus,” 
as it was “ in bad condition.” No locality or name of collector or account of 
habits was given. 
Gould referred it to his genus Cincloramphus and recorded : “If Australia 
be not celebrated for its singing birds, it has still some few whose voices serve 
to enliven the monotony of its scenery ; and of these no one deserves greater 
attention than the bird here described, which is a very sweet songster, and 
whose note somewhat resembles but is much inferior to that of our own Skylark. 
With the exception of Tasmania, where I believe it is never seen, it appears 
to be distributed over all parts of Australia, specimens having been obtained 
in every locality yet visited by Europeans. In New South Wales and Western 
Australia it is strictly migratory, and only a summer visitor, arriving in August 
and departing in February ; on the other hand, I met with it on the sandhills 
at Holdfast Bay, in South Australia, in the month of July, the period of winter ; 
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