Order PASSERIFORMES. 
No. 569. 
Family SYLVIIDAE . 
DIAPHORILLAS MODESTUS, 
THICK-BILLED GRASS- WHEN. 
(Plate 468, top figures.) 
Amytis modesta North, Victorian Naturafist, Vol. XIX., p. 103, Nov. 6th, 1902 : Meerenie 
Bluff, MacDonnell Ranges, Central Austraha. 
Amytis modesta North, Viet. Nat., Vol. XIX., p. 103, 1902 ; Keartland, lb., Vol. XX., 
p. 137, 1904 ; North, Austr. Mus. Spec. Cat., No. 1, Vol. 1, p. 249, 1904. 
Diaphorillas textilis modestus Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 365, 1922 ; id., List 
Birds Austr., p. 232, 1913 ; id., Austral Av. Rec., Vol. II., p. 136, 1915. 
Eyramytis goyderi (not of Gould) S. A. White, Trans. Roy. Soc. South Austr., Vol. 
XXXVIII., p. 432, 1914; id., ib., Vol. XXXIX., p. 754, 1915; Ashby, South 
Austr. Ornith., Vol. II., p. 10, 1915. 
Dia'phorillas textilis indullcanna Mathews, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, Vol. XXXVI., p. 90, 
July 7th, 1916 : Indulkanna, Everard Ranges, Central Austraha. 
Distribution. Central Austraha, MacDonnell, Musgrave and Everard Ranges. 
Adult male. Pore part of head dark brown with white shaft-hnes to the feathers, becoming 
ochreous-brown on the nape, hind-neck, sides of face, sides of neck, and upper-back ; 
lower back, rump, upper tail-coverts, and wings pale ochreous-brown, the white 
shaft-hnes almost entirely absent ; the lesser marginal upper wing-coverts tinged 
with fawn-colour ; flight-quills hair-brown with more or less buff on the basal 
portion ; tail pale brown with whitish margins to some of the feathers ; rictal 
bristles black with white bases ; lores tinged with cinnamon ; throat, breast, and 
abdomen buffy-white, some of the feathers on the chin black and have hair-like 
tips ; darker and inclining to fawn-colour on the lower flanks, thighs, vent, and 
under tail-coverts ; axillaries, under wing-coverts, and inner margins of quills 
below cinnamon-buff, remainder hair-brown ; lower aspect of tail similar to its 
upper-surface but paler. BiU darkish horn, feet blackish-brown. Total length 
150 mm. ; culmen 10, wing 63, tail 78, tarsus 25. Figured. Collected at Wyuna, 
Broken Hill, New South Wales, on the 1st of October, 1912, and is the type of 
Diaphorillas modestus obscurior. 
Adult female. Differs from the adult male in having a reddish patch on the sides of the 
body. Fore part of head blackish with white shaft-streaks to the feathers, becoming 
paler on the nape, sides of face, sides of neck, and upper back ; lower back, rump, 
upper tail-coverts and wings rust-brown and the shaft-hnes much less conspicuous ; 
flight-quills hair-brown on the inner webs with buff margins ; tail dark brown 
with fulvous margins to the feathers ; rictal bristles black ; lores and upper eyelid 
cimiamon ; chin buffy-white, some of the feathers have black hair-like tips, with 
dark bases to the feathers ; breast and abdomen pale fawn-colour becoming darker 
on the vent, lower flanks, thighs, and under tail-coverts ; a patch of chestnut on 
the sides of the body ; axillaries and under wing-coverts cinnamon-rufous ; under- 
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