THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
under a new name. I withdrew the description in time owing to the discovery 
of Dr. Ramsay’s name of C. minor. Dr. Sclater marked the label of my skin 
when he returned it, C. weiskei, but Dr. Sharpe, who also examined the 
specimen, marked on the back of the same label ‘ not G. weiskei .’ He also 
stated that C. minor did not occur in his copy of Ramsay’s Tabular List." 
CampbeU, in his Nests and Eggs, wrote : “ Whether Mr. K. Broadbent 
refers to this bird or not, he says : 6 There is a very distinct variety if not a 
new species of Treecreeper which frequents the scrubs, never or seldom 
appearing in the open and is characterised by a much darker plumage. This 
has tiU now shared in the specific name leucophcea,'’ ” and added “ Perhaps 
this is the slightly smaller and northern race—from Moreton Bay upwards- 
mentioned in the Brit. Mus. Cat., having a well pronounced pale grey collar 
across the fore-neck, aU the other parts being coloured as in leucophcea." 
Years afterward, having coUected specimens in the Cardwell district 
themselves, CampbeU and Barnard wrote: “ There is so much difference 
between the northern White-throated Treecreeper and its southern repre¬ 
sentative that the difference appears more specific than merely subspecific. 
C. minor differs from C. leucophcea not only in its smaller size and much darker 
coloration, but by having the throat grey instead of -white, and by the light 
stripes on the under-surface being buffy instead of -white. The light patch on 
wing is also darker (yeHowrsh-buff). 
Comparative dimensions in inches:- 
C. leucophcea 
3 
Length 6 
wing 3f 
tarsus | culmen 
5 
S 
minor 
d 
5 
3 
3 
4 
5 
8 
minor 
6 
5 
Q1 
3 
4' 
5 
S 
leucophcea 
$ 
6 
H 
7 
8 
5 
8 
minor 
? 
5 
2} 
£ 
4 
1 
2 
Northern eggs average *83 x '62 ; southern average '85 x '64 inches.” 
Recently, reviewing the group, F. E. Howe has written : “ One is struck 
by the smaHer size and slender appearance, the greyish throat, and the 
beautiful freckled chest and abdomen of the northern form (C. minor). A 
skin in the collection of Air. Edwin Ashby 7 is undoubtedly referable to C. minor, 
but it was collected at Bulk, New 7 South Wales, Unless the specimen was 
wrongly 7 labelled, tins is very far south for the bird, as its habitat is towards 
Cape York, North Queensland, the type being collected near Cardwell.” 
As already remarked, the most perplexing form is Climacteris leucoplKm 
minor, a miniature of the southern White-throatecl Treecreeper (C. leucophcea). 
Air. A. J. Campbell remarks : “ that the difference appears more specific than 
subspecific,” and states the differences and measurements of both. He does 
not then give it specific rank, but I agree with Campbell that the differences 
appear cumulative and therefore rank it here as a species. 
116 
