BLACK AND WHITE WREN. 
by the elongated black feathers of the mantle ; flight-quills hair-brown both above 
and below ; tail dark blue with dark obsolete cross bars, lower aspect similar. Bill 
black, eyes dark hazel, legs brownish-purple, feet darker. Total length 112 mm. ; 
culmen 9, wing 44, tail 55, tarsus 19. Figured. Collected on Dirk Hartog Island, 
West Australia, on the 30th of September, 1916. 
Adult female. General colour of the upper-surface cinnamon-brown, including the top 
of the head, back, and wings ; flight-quills hair-brown, both above and below, 
becoming darker on the innermost secondaries ; tail pale faded-blue, with dark 
obsolete cross-bars, and whitish margins to some of the feathers ; rictal bristles 
black ; sides of face and sides of body similar to the back ; lower flanks, thighs, 
and under tail-coverts paler and inclining to buff like the under wing-coverts ; 
throat, breast, and abdomen, whitish with blackish bases to the feathers ; lower 
aspect of tail similar to its upper-surface, except that the shafts of the feathers are 
paler and inclining to white. Bill pale reddish, eyes dark hazel, feet and legs 
purplish-flesh. Total length 118 mm. ; culmen 9, wing 44, tail 61, tarsus 19. 
Figured. Collected on Dirk Hartog Island, West Australia, on the 9th of October, 
1916. 
Immature males. Besemble the females, but have blackish bills. 
Nest. “ Domed, with side entrance near the top. Constructed of very fine dried grass 
matted together with spiders’ web, cocoons and small pieces of wool, lined with 
pieces of fine grass, cocoons and wool. 5 inches long by 2f wide.” (White.) 
Eggs. “ Clutch, three to four. White, marked all over, but particularly at the larger 
end, with small dots and splashes of pale reddish-brown, sometimes forming a zone 
at the larger end. 15 mm. by 10 mm.” ( ib .) 
Breeding-season. August, Barrow Island ; June to September, Dirk Hartog Island. 
(Whitlock.) 
Two anomalies stand out during the preparation of an Avifaunal account 
such as the present : the lack of life histories of common birds accompanied by 
complex technical nomenclature, and full accounts of very rare ones. To the 
latter class must be added the present species. 
As the history is now fairly well known, it will only be briefly here related. 
When the “ Uranie ” and “ Physicienne,” two French exploring vessels, 
were in Australian waters, the two surgeon naturalists, Quoy and Gaiinard, 
enthusiastically made huge collections in every branch of Natural History, 
and many of their discoveries were lost to science through the fact of the local 
distribution of the forms. Yet the names proposed by these workers became 
associated with other species from varied causes. In the present instance, 
on an isolated little island, they discovered some strange new little birds, of 
which paintings were made and the specimens preserved, but, owing to an 
accident, the latter were lost. The paintings, however, were published and the 
birds described and named. Similar birds were found in Australia later, and 
the earliest names were used. Gould used the one we are now dealing with, 
M alums leucopterus , but apparently referring to the painting, observed the 
discrepancy, but did not read the history, as he stated the type was not to be 
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