THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Artamus leucorhynchus harterti Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 367, Jan. 31st, 1912 : 
(Parry’s Creek), North-west Australia ; id., List Birds Austr., p. 234, 1913 ; id., 
South Austr. Ornith., Vol. III., p. 177, 1918; Soderberg, Kungl. Svenska Vet. 
Hand). Band 52, p. 95, 1918. 
Artamus leucorhynchus melvillensis Mathews, Austral. Av. Rec., Vol. I., pt. n., p. 45, Apl. 
2nd, 1912 : Melville Island. 
Distribution. Northern Tropical Australia, reaching into New South Wales ; Northern 
Victoria and South Australia, apparently in recent times. 
Adult male. Crown of head, nape, sides of face, and throat slate-brown ; mantle, back, 
and scapulars dark coffee-brown ; wings and tail blackish slate-colour ; inner 
webs of flight-quills inclining to vinous-grey; feathers behind the nostrils black 
and hair-like in texture ; breast, abdomen, under tail-coverts, entire sides of body, 
thighs, rump, and upper tail-coverts white like the axillaries, under wing-coverts, 
and base of quills below ; remainder of quill-lining greyish-brown ; lower aspect 
of tail similar but darker. Eyes brown ; feet and tarsi leaden- black ; bill distal, 
quarter of gonys and culmen black, remainder bluish-grey. Total length 190 mm. ; 
culmen 17, wing 129, tail 59, tarsus 16. Figured. Collected on Cooper’s Creek’ 
Melville Island, and is the type of Artamus leucorhynchus melvillensis. 
Adult female. Similar to adult male. 
Nest. Cup-shaped, composed of dried grass, sometimes placed in a hollow spout, at others 
in an old nest of Grallina. Inside measurements 2f inches wide by 1| deep. 
Eggs. Clutch, three to four, and vary greatly in size and general disposition of the mar kin gs, 
A rather typical clutch of three is oval in shape, ground colour creamy-white, well 
spotted and blotched with rusty-brown and pale slaty marldngs, which are confined 
chiefly to the larger end where they form a well defined zone. Surface of shell 
fine, smooth, and slightly glossy. The clutch measures 22-23 mm. by 17. 
Breeding-season. August or September to January or February. 
Concerning this species Gould wrote : “ On a careful comparison of 
specimens of the White-rumped Artami from India and the Indian 
Archipelago with those killed in Australia, I cannot but consider that at 
least two, if not three, species have been confounded under one name, and 
that the Australian bird had remained undescribed until characterized by 
me in the 4 Proceedings of the Zoological Society ’ above quoted. The 
present species is most nearly allied to the Artamus leucorhynchus, but is 
readily distinguished from it by the blue colour of the bill ; and I may here 
remark, that the Australian birds are also considerably smaller in all their 
admeasurements than those of the islands to the northwards. 
44 Tasmania and Western Australia are the only colonies in which this 
bird lias not been observed ; its range, therefore, over the continent may 
be considered as very general ; in South Australia and New South Wales 
it would appear to be migratory, visiting these parts in summer for the 
purpose of breeding. Among other places where I observed it in considerable 
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