TAWNY GRASS-BIRD. 
on the latter ; tail-feathers bronze-brown with black shafts and obsolete cross- 
bars ; sides of face ochreous-grey with a broad streak of the same colour from the 
lores to above the eye and along the sides of the crown and a few minute dark lines 
under the eye ; throat and fore-neck milk-white ; breast and middle of abdomen 
buffy-white ; sides of abdomen, sides of body, thighs, and under tail-coverts 
ochreous ; under wing-coverts similar but paler and showing a few dark marks 
on the marginal ones ; under-surface of quills hair-brown, margined with cinnamon ; 
lower aspect to tail similar to its upper-surface but paler and the shafts inclining 
to white towards the base. Bill brown, lower mandible whitish, feet and tarsus 
pale brown ; eyes brown. Total length 193 mm. ; culmen 10, wing 66, tail 90, 
tarsus 26. Figured. Collected on Melville Island on the 6th of June, 1912, and 
is the type of Megalurus alisteri melvillensis. 
Adult male. Crown of head and nape ferrugineous with dark shaft-lines to the feathers ; 
hind-neck, mantle, and back brown with black elongated centres to the feathers ; upper 
wing-coverts ochreous-brown with blackish shaft-lines widening out on the greater 
series, and much more extensively on the innermost secondaries ; flight-quills 
hair-brown with buff inner edges, the outer margins dark ochreous ; rump and 
upper tail-coverts umber-brown with black shaft-lines to some of the feathers ; 
tail coppery bronze-brown with dark shafts, and obsolete cross-markings ; a whitish 
line above the eye which extends backward along the sides of the crown ; throat, 
fore-neck, and middle of abdomen white ; breast buffy-white ; sides of body and 
under tail-coverts pale umber-brown ; thighs, under tail-coverts, axillaries, under 
wing-coverts, and margins of quills below cinnamon ; remainder of quill-lining 
hair-brown ; lower aspect of tail similar to its upper-surface but duller. Bill with 
upper mandible dark horn ; lower lighter ; feet fleshy-pink ; eyes reddish-brown. 
Total length 200 mm. ; culmen 15, wing 69, tail 101, tarsus 22. Figured. Collected 
at Napier Broome Bay on the 30th of October, 1909, and is the type of Megalurus 
alisteri alisteri. 
Adult female. Similar to the adult male. 
Nest. Deep cup-shaped, composed of grass and lined with feathers. Outside dimensions 
3-| by 2| deep. Inside 2 by 1|. 
Eggs. “ Clutch three. Ground colour reddish- white ; freckled all over with purplish 
markings which predominate as usual on the larger end ” (North). 20 mm. by 15. 
Breeding -season. October to Februarv. 
\\ 
In the Planches Coloriees, published by Temminck and Laugier, a bird was 
figured and described as M alums galactotes, and the locality given as New 
Holland. Specimens in the Linnean Society’s collection “ obtained by 
Mr. (Robert) Brown at Broad Sound, near the upper head, October 24th, 1802,” 
were referred by Vigors and Horsfield to this species but transferred to the 
genus Megalurus just previously instituted by Horsfield for a Javan bird. 
They, however, commented : “ This bird has been placed by Mr. Temminck 
among the Maluri ; but the strength of its formation with respect to its bill, 
legs, and tail, by no means accords with the characters of those birds. It 
belongs more properly to Megalurus, although not exactly agreeing with the 
typical species ; its structure being weaker in comparison with them, as it 
is stronger with respect to the Maluri. It seems to indicate a passage between 
the two groups.” 
VOL. IX. 
385 
