BROWN TIT. 
In the last-named, the light edgings to the primaries, and also the semi- 
circular marks on each of the forehead-feathers, are much less distinct than in 
other species, while in the young bird the bill is slightly shorter, the mantle 
is darker brown, and the throat marks more obscure than in the parent.” 
Here a difference in coloration between the sexes is recorded and also a 
plumage difference due to age. I have found the bill to vary considerably in 
length. 
Gould in his folio Birds of Australia recorded Acanthiza ewingii Proc. Zool. 
Soc. (Lond.) Aug. 13th, 1844, but no note appears in that place so it may be 
concluded that if he showed it before the Society he afterwards withdrew it, 
even as he did after he published the plate and description in the Birds of 
Australia, Vol. 3, pi. 55 (pt. 17) 1844. The description reads : “The Acanthiza 
ewingii is more elegant in all its proportions than its near ally, the Acanthiza 
diemenensis, for although it is a smaller bird, its tarsi are longer and more 
slender. There is also a rich brown mark at the base of the primaries of Acanthiza 
ewingii, which does not occur in any other known species : the markings of the 
breast also are more indistinct and clouded with blue-grey, while in Acanthiza 
diemenensis this part of the plumage is lighter and more inclined to brown : 
tail rich brown, crossed by a broad band of black near the tip, the lateral feathers 
tipped with white ; under-surface pale olive.” No measurements are given 
and though it is said to be a smaller bird the figures apparently natural size 
appear to be larger. When Littler prepared his “ Handbook ” he admitted the 
two species and gave the history of ewingii but acknowledged that “ the dis- 
tribution has not been fully worked out, but it is known to occur round Hobart 
and Launceston on the way to the Lakes, and part of the West Coast.” Of 
Acanthiza diemenensis he wrote : “In the northern half of the island, at least, 
this is very plentiful ” and his measurements read : — 
“ Acanthiza diemenensis Length 100 : bill 11 : wing 51 : tail 45 : tarsus 19 nim. 
Acanthiza ewingii 101 11 48 47 19 ” 
I have examined these birds in every detail in connection with continental 
birds and find no stable character for separating two species, and can allow 
ewingii only as a highland form. 
This would mean using the name 
Acanthiza pusilla ewingii Gould 
for a highland Tasmanian subspecies. 
As regards the King Island bird which was separated by A. J. Campbell 
the name will be 
Acanthiza pusilla rufifrons Campbell 
as I conclude that the bird differentiated by Campbell was merely an individual 
aberration such as is commonly met with in this species. The description reads 
429 
