BANDED WEEN. 
under tail-coverts ; thighs greenish-blue ; under wing pale buff ; under-surface 
of flight-quills hair-brown with pale margins ; lower aspect of tail similar to its 
upper-surface but paler. Bill black, eyes dark brown, feet and legs very dark 
brown. Total length 130 mm. ; culmen 9, wing 52, tail 64, tarsus 23. Figured. 
Collected at (Waraya) Yalgoo Gold Field, West Australia, on the 24th of August, 
1903, and is the type of M alums s'plendens riordani. 
Adult female. General colour of the upper-surface mouse-brown including the top of 
the head, entire back, and wings ; inner webs of flight-quills hair-brown ; tail 
dull lavender-blue with whitish tips and pale margins to some of the feathers ; 
rictal bristles black with white bases ; lores and eyelids chestnut ; throat, breast, 
abdomen, sides of body, thighs, and under tail-coverts pale fawn colour like the 
under wing-coverts ; under-surface of flight-quills hair-brown with pale edges ; 
lower aspect of tail similar to its upper-surface, but paler and having white shafts 
to the feathers on the basal portion. Bill light brown, eyes deep brown, feet dark 
brown. Total length 116 mm. ; culmen 8, wing 48, tail 60, tarsus 23. Figured. 
Collected in East Murchison, West Australia, on October 2nd, 1909. 
Young males. Very similar to the adult females but the lores not so rufous. 
Nest. Dome-shaped, with entrance near the top. Composed of dried grass and lined 
with finer grass, wool or feathers, 5 inches high by 3 wide. 
Eggs. Clutch, three to four. Pinkish-white to white, freckled or spotted with purplish- 
brown, more on the larger end. 17 mm. by 12. 
Breeding-season. (August) October to December. 
Quoy and Gaimard, the French exploring naturalists, described this species 
in 1830 and three years later Gould also named it, but very soon recognised 
that his species was the same as that proposed by the French workers, and 
moreover, used the name at once, especially as it was exceedingly appropriate, 
as his few remarks observe. “ The Malurus splendens , which may very justly 
be considered more gorgeous than any other of its race, its whole plumage 
sparkling with beautiful shining metallic lustre, is an inhabitant of the western 
coast of Australia, and is, I believe, very generally distributed over the Swan 
River settlement, where it inhabits scrubby places covered with underwood. 
Its song very nearly resembles that of the Tasmanian species, M. longicaudus .” 
Mr. Tom Carter has written me “ The Banded Wren is given in your 1912 
‘ Reference List,’ as occurring generally through West Australia. It is common 
throughout the south-west, but does not seem to extend to the far inland districts, 
and was never noted by me in the Gascoyne and northern areas. Its range 
from the coast is probably about one hundred miles. It occurs at Kellerberin 
(100 miles inland), and is not uncommon about Albany, but is now not so 
plentiful as it was ten or twelve years ago (I wonder if this is due to destruction 
by cats). It was not nearly so numerous about Broome Hill as it is in the 
moister south-west corner. Near Broome Hill a nest containing four fresh 
eggs was found Oct. 7th, 1906, and another on Aug. 21st, 1912, with three eggs, 
but I think the breeding season is usually late, October to December. Young 
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