Order PASSERIFORMES. 
No. 524. 
Family TXJRDIDM. 
ASHBYIA LOVENSIS. 
DESERT CHAT. 
(Plate 441.) 
Ephthianura loyensis Ashby, Emu, Vol. X., pt. 4, p. 251, Jan. 21st, 1911 : Leigh’s 
Creek, South Australia. 
Ephthianura lovensis Ashby, Emu, Vol. X.,p. 251, 1911; Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., 
p. 342, 1912 ; id.. Emu, Vol. XII., p. 204, pi. e., 1913 ; S. A. White, ib., Vol. XVI., 
p. 165, 1917. 
Ashbyia lovensis North, Agric. Gazette, N.S.W., Vol. XXII., pt. 3, p. 211, March 1911; 
id., Emu, Vol. X., p. 346, 1911 ; S. A. White, Trans. Roy. Soc. S.A., Vol. 
XXXIX., p. 752, Dec. 1915 ; id., ib., Vol. XLI., p. 458, March 30th, 1918 ; id., 
Emu, Vol. XIV., p. 188, 1915; Waite, p. 167, pi. xxx., 1917. MeGilp, id., Vol. XIX., 
p. 56, 1919. 
Ashbyia lovei North, Agric. Gazette N.S.W., Vol. XXII., pt. 3, p. 211, March 1911; 
emendation only. 
Ashbyia lovensis whitei Mathews, Bull. Brit. Om. Club, Vol. XXXVI., p. 90, July 7th, 
1916 : Mary’s Well, 12 miles east of Todmorden Camp, Central Australia. 
Distribution. Interior of South Australia. 
Adult male. General colour of the upper-surface sandy-buff including the top of the head 
and nape, sides of face, sides of neck, back, and upper tail-coverts and wings ; 
flight-quills pale hair-brown margined with sandy-buff, becoming darker and 
inclining to blackish on the innermost secondaries ; tail blackish-brown with 
buff y- white fringes to the feathers ; base of fore-head yellow ; throat and under 
tail-coverts pale sulphur-yellow ; breast and sides of body pale sandy-buff ; 
abdomen and thighs yellow ; axillaries and under wing-coverts yellowish-white ; 
under-surface of flight-quills hair-brown with pale margins ; lower aspect of tail 
similar to its upper-surface. Bill leaden-black, feet ashy-grey ; eyes white. 
Total length 123 mm. ; culmen 11, wing 75, tail 42, tarsus 22. Figured. 
Collected at Mary’s Well, 12 miles east of Todmorden, in Central Australia, on 
the 6th of September, 1914, and is the type of Ashbyia lovensis whitei. 
Adult female. General colour of the upper-surface sandy-buff including the crown of 
the head, ear-coverts, sides of neck, hind-neck, entire back, upper tail-coverts 
and wings ; inner webs of flight-quills sandy-brown with rather paler margins, 
some of the innermost secondaries tipped with buffy-white ; tail hair-brown with 
buffy-white margins to the feathers ; lores and feathers above the eye, cheeks 
and throat pale yellow ; breast and sides of body sandy-buff ; abdomen yellow, 
350 
