THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Distribution. Northern Australia from Derby and Napier Broome Bay in the North¬ 
west to Alexandra, Eastern Northern Territory, and into Queensland (Cloncurry), 
Adult male. Crown of head and nape black ; hind-neck, mantle, back and scapulars 
drab-grey with dark shaft-streaks ; upper tail-coverts white; upper wing-coverts 
black ; outer aspect of flight-quills black with a band of white, chiefly across the 
inner-webs ; tail black tipped with white more narrowly on the middle feathers; 
fore-head, lores, a line over the eye, sides of face, sides of neck, throat, breast, and 
upper abdomen white ; axillaries, sides of body, and lower abdomen drab-grey; 
thighs blackish ; under tail-coverts white subapically marked with black; under 
wing-coverts black ; edge of wing and greater series white ; under-surface of flight- 
quills blackisli-brown with, a patch of white ; lower aspect of tail similar to its 
upper-surface. Eyes and feet yellow, bill with yellow base and black tip. Total 
length 114 mm. ; culmen 13, wing 82, tail 35, tarsus 17. Figured. Collected at 
Napier Broome Bay, North-west Australia, on the 24th of February, 1910. 
The sexes of this bird are very similar to those of N. pileata, differing principally 
in having the wing-bar white, not buff. 
Female differs from the male in having the black of the head extending below the 
ej T es. 
Eggs. Three eggs form the clutch, and appear to be the smallest laid by the genus. A 
clutch of three eggs taken at Borroloola, Macarthur River, Northern Territory, on the 
11th of November, 1913, is of a pale greyish-white ground-colour, spotted and speckled 
with dark olive and slate markings, which become confluent towards the larger 
end of each egg. Ovals in shape ; surface of shell smooth and rather glossy. 15-16 
mm. by 12. 
Nest. Similar to that constructed by other species of the genus. The nest from which 
this clutch of eggs was taken, was a beautiful little cup-shaped structure, composed 
of bits of bark and cobwebs woven together in an upright fork of a Coolibah tree. 
Breeding-months. August to December. (June, July.) 
Gould described this beautiful bird as a distinct species on account of 
the white inner lining of the wings, and recently it was reduced to subspecific 
rank; but I am now inclined to agree with the majority of Australian orni¬ 
thologists that it would be better to treat it as a representative species rather 
than a subspecies. 
Gould wrote : “ The present bird, which is a native of the northern parts 
of Australia, is a perfect representative of the Sittella chrysoptera of the south 
coast, to which species it is most nearly allied. The contrasted style of its 
plumage, together with the white spot on the wings, sufficiently distinguish 
it from every other species of the genus yet discovered. It is found in the 
Cobourg Peninsula, but is nowhere very abundant; it moves about in small 
families of from four to twelve in number, Its note, actions, and general 
habits are precisely similar to those of the other members of the genus. The 
sexes differ from each other in the mar kin gs of the head; the male has the 
summit only black, while the female has the whole of the head and ear-coverts 
of that colour.” 
72 
