THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
a non-breeding male was shot, which was assuming the full plumage. In this 
species, as in Malurus splendens , Leggeornus lamberti occidentalism and 
Hallornis cyanotus , the brilliant colouring appears at the base of the feathers 
first, below the outer plumage of loose open texture. This plumage of loose 
texture seems to wear away, or fall off, as the coloured plumage grows up from 
below. After October 26th, most of the males began to moult, their white 
scapulars seeming to fall out first. Some immature males beginning to assume 
full plumage, were noted on or about October 10th. Two or three of the 
adult males obtained had small patches of ultramarine-blue feathers amid the 
black of the chest and throat. Occasionally an adult male w^as seen with small 
tufts of pure white feathers amid the body plumage. From the above- 
mentioned patches of blue colour it may be assumed that ages ago, before 
Dirk Hartog became separated from the mainland, this species was identical 
with the then existing type of mainland birds. Skins of adult males from 
Dirk Hartog compared with skins from Barrow Island in the Perth Museum, 
are darker in general colour and have tails of richer blue ; but, as it is fifteen 
years since the Museum birds w T ere mounted, they have probably faded. 
M . edouardi has the wings 5 mm. longer than M . leucopterus, but the latter has 
the larger bill.” 
I had remarked : “I have compared a Dirk Hartog specimen with a 
Barrow Island bird and note the following differences : The former has a 
distinctly stouter bill, recalling the original figure, which appears to have 
exaggerated that feature to call attention to it ; the white markings on the 
scapulars extend on to the secondaries, which are pure white, while in the 
latter they are brownish with white edgings ; the wing in the Barrow Island 
form is noticeably longer. As no series are available, these characters may 
not be constant, but as Campbell emphasized, the localities are five hundred 
miles apart and consequently the forms must, for the present, be regarded 
as subspecifically separable. For these dark Blue Wrens I proposed the new 
generic name N esomalurus, but Mr. Carter suggests that as the Dirk Hartog 
form is replaced by the blue and white species on the mainland, and as in 
habits, note, etc., it is essentially identical, it may simply be an island 
evolution of the blue and white form.” 
Upon publication of these results Mr. H. L. White commissioned 
F. L. Whitlock to explore Barrow Island and Dirk Hartog Island for the nests 
and eggs of this and other rare species, and from his reports I quote the 
following : “I observed a party of small birds fly from the spinifex . . 
they looked very brown. . . I watched them quietly without seeing any 
signs of a male in nuptial plumage, and an hour’s subsequent search through- 
out the neighbourhood failed to discover one. I came to the conclusion that this 
90 
