PLAIN-COLOURED TIT. 
Adult male. General colour of the upper-surface olive-brown, more or less tinged with 
grey including the top of the head, back, upper tail-coverts, scapulars, and wings ; 
flight-quills dark brown on the inner webs with buffy- white margins ; tail dark 
ochreous-brown with a blackish subterminal band ; base of fore-head buff with 
dark margins to the feathers which imparts a scalloped appearance ; sides of 
face similar but not so pronounced ; throat, fore-neck and breast pale buff 
slightly dappled with a darker colour ; abdomen, sides of the body and under 
tail-coverts yellowish-buff ; under wing-coverts and inner edges of quills below 
buff ; remainder of quill-lining dark hair-brown ; lower aspect of tad similar to 
its upper-surface. Bill dark horn, lower base paler, feet very dark brown, eyes 
buff. Total length 96 mm. ; culmen 9, wing 48, tail 34, tarsus 17. Figured. 
Collected in the Sterling Ranges, South-west Australia, on the 13th of July, 1911, 
and is the type of Acanthiza inornata submastersi. 
Adult female similar to the adult male. 
Immature resemble the adults. 
Adult. General colour of the upper-surface olive-brown including the head, back, and 
wings ; outer aspect of flight-quills paler than the back, the inner webs hair- 
brown with buffy - white margins ; upper tail-coverts cream-white ; tail bronze- 
brown with a blackish subterminal band and pale tips to the feathers ; sides of 
face olive minutely marked with buffy-wkite, which gives a speckled appearance ; 
throat and remainder of the under-surface, including the axillaries and under 
wing-coverts, buffy-white ; under-surface of flight-quills dark hair-brown with 
pale edges ; lower aspect of tail similar to its upper-surface but paler. Bill and 
feet brown, eyes buff. Total length 99 mm. ; culmen 9, wing 49, tail 34, tarsus 18. 
Figured. Collected on the Strelly River, Mid- west Australia, in September 1907, 
and is the type of Acanthiza inornata strellyi. 
The sexes are alike. 
Nest. A rounded structure with side entrance towards the top, made of dried grasses, 
etc., held together with spiders’ web, and lined with feathers or soft vegetable 
matter. Dimensions 5 inches by 3 wide. 
Eggs. Clutch, two to three. Flesh colour, freckled with reddish-brown all over and 
forming a zone at the larger end. 16-17 mm. by 12-13. 
Breeding-season. September to December. 
\\ 
Gould described the majority of the species of Acanthiza, and of this one 
he recorded : “ Although neither elegant in form nor characterized by any beauty 
of plumage, the present little bird demands as much of our attention as any 
other species of the group. Its true habitat seems to be the south-western parts 
of Australia, for it is numerously dispersed over the colony of Swan River ; 
it is equally abundant at King George’s Sound, and as I killed specimens on the 
small low islands at the mouths of Spencer’s and St. Vincent’s Gulfs, it is most 
probable that its range extends all along the coast between those localities. 
Independently of its plainer colouring, the truncated form of its tail serves at 
once to distinguish it from the Acanthiza a/picalis, with which it is often seen 
in company ; unlike the latter bird however it does not erect its tail, but carries 
it in a line with the body. Its note is a little feeble song somewhat resembling 
VOL. IX. 
441 
