BLACK-BANDED WHITEFACE. 
Adult female. Crown of head dark cinnamon with blackish shaft-lines ; hind-neck, sides 
of neck and upper back cinnamon-rufous becoming chestnut on the lower back, 
scapulars and rump; upper tail-coverts cinnamon-rufous ; upper wing-coverts 
dark brown with pale fringes to the feathers; bastard-wing blackish, minutely 
tipped with wliite; flight-quills hair-brown with pale margins to the inner webs; 
innermost secondaries blackish, broadly margined with cinnamon; tail-feathers 
brown on the basal portion where they are fringed with cinnamon, becoming blackish 
towards the apical portion and tipped with white; a narrow black band across 
the fore-head; base of fore-head and lores buffy-white; oar-coverts palo brown; 
nasal bristles black; chin buffy-white with hair-like tips to some of the feathers ; 
throat and fore-neck greyish-white with blackish bases to the feathers; a black 
band across the lower breast; abdomen cream-white like the thighs; sides of body 
chestnut intermixed with whito; under tail-coverts cream-white’; axillaries and under 
wing-coverts pale cinnamon; under-surface of flight-quills hair-brown margined 
with pale buff; lower aspect of tail similar to its upper-surface. Eyes white, 
bill leaden-brown ; feet and tarsi leaden-blue. Total length 115 mm. ; c-ulmen 9, 
wing 57, tail 38, tarsus 19. Figured. Collected at Tanami, Northern Territory, 
on the 27th of March, 1910, and is the type of A. n. tanami. The sexes are alike. 
“ Young have adult plumage from nest.” (McGilp.) 
Eggs. Three eggs usually form the clutch. A typical clutch of three eggs taken at Illamurta, 
on the Finke River, Central Australia, on the 6th of April, 1898, is of a very pale 
pinkish-white ground-colour, speckled and spotted with pale reddish-brown and 
purplish-grey, forming an irregular zone at the larger end of each egg. Ovals in 
shape; surface of shell smooth, and slightly glossy. 17-18 mm. by 13. 
Nest. “ Rather a bulky, domed-shaped structure, and is invariably placed in a prickly 
bush or shrub. The outside of the nest is usually composed of dark-coloured 
twigs, making it rather conspicuous. Inside these dark-coloured twigs is placed a 
lining of flower stems and flower pods with a final lining of soft feathers. The 
entrance to the nest is a long, narrow funnel about one inch in diameter and six 
to nine inches in length. This funnel is lined with feathers for a third of the distance 
from the egg cavity.” (McGilp.) 
Breeding-season. April, May. (McGilp.) 
Nokth described tills species thus: “ Xerophila nigricincta sp. n. Adult 
female. Like X. pectoralis, from Port Augusta, but distinguished by having 
the breast crossed by a narrow black band, instead of a broad and well defined 
band of cinnamon-brown across the chest, as in that species. Total length 
3’9 inches, wing 2‘2, tail 1*7, bill from gape 0‘45, tarsus 0 - 68. The sexes are 
alike in plumage. Hab., Missionary Plains, Central Australia.” 
Mr. J. P. Rogers then came across it at Tanami in the Northern Territory, 
which seems to be the northern edge of the vast mulga area of the interior. 
He wrote: “ First seen at Tanami and from there south was fairly numerous 
and several nests seen but eggs were heavily incubated.” 
Then Captain S. A. White found it at the type locality and also extended 
the range westwards and southwards. He wrote: “ This species was dis¬ 
covered by the Horn Expedition and described by North. It was not until 
we were approaching the Northern Territory boundary that we met with these 
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